But who needs movies when real-world innovations are way cooler—especially the ones poised to radically transform humanity’s eco footprint.

Here are six recent game-changers that have grabbed our interest, and promise to transform the globe.

1. The radical rooftop

At age 12, lying in bed listening to rain on the roof, young inventor Raymond Wang thought about a magazine article he’d read for interest on “piezoelectric” materials. When compressed, these ceramic or crystalline substances convert motion into electrical current. Using that knowledge, the junior genius from Vancouver invented a roof tile that turns the impact of raindrops, even wind, into usable electricity.

Now 18, Wang wants to create a rooftop that can provide up to 50 per cent of an average household’s electricity needs.

2. The power tile

Over the pond, Laurence Kemball-Cook, a 29-year old British inventor, has created an indoor-outdoor floor tile that creates electricity when people walk on it. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a soccer field now features 200 of Kemball-Cook’s tiles, topped with artificial turf.

The pounding feet of players generates enough power, stored in batteries, to run the stadium’s floodlights for night games.

3. The new window of opportunity

The field of solar energy is advancing so fast it’s hard to keep up with new innovations. Michigan State University researchers have created transparent solar panels, raising the possibility that every window in your house could someday become a power station.

Scott and Julie Brusaw, both engineers in Idaho, devised an impact-resistant, glass solar tile that’s strong enough to pave roadways. Self-powered streets and parking lots could light up at night with built-in LEDs, warm up to clear snow and ice, and even power recharging stations for electric cars.

The Brusaws are fundraising to begin large-scale production. Meanwhile, the city of Amsterdam is test-driving a similar technology produced by Dutch company SolaRoad, on a 70-metre stretch of bicycle path.

Climate change has reached a point where it’s no longer just about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but scrubbing away the emissions already in our atmosphere.

The Calgary company, Carbon Engineering, studied how trees capture carbon dioxide and convert it into oxygen. It then invented a device that sucks in air and runs it through carbon-absorbing liquid. A single prototype unit captures about 14 cars’ worth of carbon in our air every day.

Carbon Engineering envisions hundreds of these units mounted together in massive “wind walls” that could be installed in areas, such as deserts. Each wall would remove a whopping 300,000 cars’ worth of carbon emissions each year.

As a side benefit, the pure carbon captured can then be converted back into low-emissions fuel.

5. The high-tech home eco-nomist

We’d love to have the Learning Thermostats from Google’s Nest Labs installed in our homes. Their ability to sense when the house is occupied, and adapt to changing our schedules, would help us reduce our energy use, not to mention saving us money on heating bills.

6. The bling that gives feedback

Try on the WorldBeing wristband, from U.K. designer Benjamin Hubert and the environmental non-profit, Carbon Trust. The latest in wearable tech, the wristband works with a smart phone app to track your carbon footprint: what you had for breakfast, how far you drove the car, even what you bought in a store.

The app gives daily challenges and targets to reduce your eco-impact, and a display screen shows you minute-by-minute how much of an impact you’re having in saving planet Earth.

So Hollywood can keep its spherical droids and robot-manned gas stations.

We’ll check our eco-progress on smart apps, while listening to the gentle sound of rain generating electricity on the rooftop.

Brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger founded a platform for social change that includes the international charity Free The Children, the social enterprise Me to We and the youth empowerment movement WE Day.WE.org

]]>http://o.canada.com/life/hollywood-cant-compete-with-real-world-inventiveness/feed1Star Wars: The Force AwakenscraigkielburgerKids in the Hall could return to screen, says Bruce McCullochhttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/kids-in-the-hall-could-return-to-screen-says-bruce-mcculloch
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/kids-in-the-hall-could-return-to-screen-says-bruce-mcculloch#commentsMon, 19 Oct 2015 18:55:36 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=716594]]>The Kids in the Hall might become men on the screen once again. So says Bruce McCulloch, a member of the landmark Canadian comedy troupe.

“I think we will do something,” the 54-year-old Alberta native said in a recent interview.

“We’re in discussions now about what it would be. The last time we went on tour, Death Comes to Town came out of it. And I think now we’re thinking, ‘Do we want to do a limited series? A sketch thing? A weird Christmas special?’ ”

Any of those options would be a prime playground for the Kids, who starred in CBC’s sketch-comedy show The Kids in the Hall from 1989 to 1995. The next year they made the film Brain Candy, and the eight-part miniseries Death Comes to Town aired in 2010.

This year, the troupe performed their first North American tour in seven years. And now with other projects on the go, its members might find it hard to bring their collective surreal humour to either TV screens or movie theatres once again.

Dave Foley has a role on ABC’s comedy Dr. Ken, while Mark McKinney is shooting the upcoming NBC sitcom Superstore. Kevin McDonald also has a few TV series bubbling, and Scott Thompson will star on Super Channel’s upcoming What Would Sal Do?

McCulloch himself headlines Young Drunk Punk, an ode to his youth that’s set in 1980s Calgary. The TV comedy centres on high school grad Ian McKay (Tim Carlson) and his best friend Andrew Shinky (Atticus Mitchell).

“I love writing and creating roles, but acting had always been a skill that I’d been reluctant to flex,” says the Edmonton-born actor.

“I watch The Kids in the Hall show now and there are four pretty funny guys and a little guy waddling around with a big jumbo head, and that guy’s me. But to think that I’m kind of OK is kind of nuts.”

Episode 102 []

After airing its first season on City earlier this year, Young Drunk Punk staggered over to CBC — the same network that aired The Kids in the Hall — and the national broadcaster is currently re-airing the first 13 episodes on Tuesday nights.

While CBC has yet to announce a second season of Young Drunk Punk, McCulloch is open to fans’ ideas for a new batch of episodes. And he gets plenty of them while roaming the Calgary streets where the show is filmed.

“I’m Bruce-e-o from Calgary, so everybody knows me — or feels they know me. So they’ll come up with an idea about a s—ty job they had or something their wife is doing that’s driving them nuts,” McCulloch says.

“And I’m happy to take them. It reminds me of things that happened 27 years ago, and it all adds to the fabric of the show.”

NOTE: This version of corrects the subtitle of the article to reflect that it is Dave Foley who is member of The Kids in the Hall.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/kids-in-the-hall-could-return-to-screen-says-bruce-mcculloch/feed2Episode 102mhank2012LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 10: Bruce McCulloch, Scott Thompson, Mark McKinney, Kevin McDonald and Dave Foley of The Kids in the Hall perform at Festival Supreme 2015 at The Shrine Auditorium on October 10, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)Episode 102Cruise news and views you can usehttp://o.canada.com/travel/ports-and-bows/cruise-news-and-views-you-can-use-20
http://o.canada.com/travel/ports-and-bows/cruise-news-and-views-you-can-use-20#commentsThu, 22 Oct 2015 03:00:37 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=721951]]>Norwegian’s Epic just spent three weeks in dry-dock, having her interior upgraded. This means she’ll look spic and span for her winter and summer season out of Barcelona before returning to the U.S. next fall.

Are you a Beatles fan? If so, you should like the Epic’s new Cavern Club, which promises to bring the original Beatles venue to life. The refurbished ship has also been outfitted with a second new show — Priscilla Queen of the Desert — to go along with Burn the Floor. It’s a musical revue and some of the songs you will hear are Raining Men, I Will Survive and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

Part of the Epic’s refurbishing includes a library and card room. Passengers looking for adventure on board can tee up at the new SplashGolf, which was installed in the kids’ Aqua Park. This new attraction combines water and mini golf.

Additionally, the vessel received major renovations and enhancements to the Mandara Spa, Bliss ultra lounge, pool deck Marketplace, Epic Theater, the casino and the exclusive Haven suite complex.

——–

This item’s in the “hmmm…interesting” category.

Young adults (ages 25 to 34) are the second-largest age group for cruise lines that sail out of Britain, and that’s only one percentage point behind the 65-plus age group, according to a survey commissioned by Association of British Travel Agents.

Cruise holidays were particularly popular with holidayers aged 65-plus — 13 per cent who took a holiday in the last 12 months went on a cruise.

That’s a huge drop in the age demographic.

——–

MSC has swung its compass around to South America. Going into that market is now a reality, with MSC itineraries on sale for the 2016-17 season, a full year before the cruises.

MSC Orchestra will, for the first time, undertake 14 departures of 7-8-9-and-10-night cruises from Buenos Aires, including themed cruises such as Fitness, Dance with Me (Baila Conmigo), Carnival, Christmas and New Year’s.

Demonstrating its commitment and confidence in South America, MSC also has three other ships in the region: Preziosa, Musica and Armonia. In total, it will offer more than 75 cruises from Argentina and Brazil next winter, about 20,000 cabins.

——–

I love this new airline’s name.

Friends of mine in Toronto told me last night they booked discount flights on WOW Air, which by next spring will be flying out of Toronto and Montreal to Iceland for $99 one-way and to numerous European destinations for $149.

That’s the base price of a one-way ticket, with all applicable airport charges and taxes in effect, but the usual extras prevail.

The Icelandic carrier says service from Montreal to Reykjavik will begin May 12, and from Toronto on May 20. The concept is that you fly to Iceland and, for an additional fare, to numerous cities in Europe. On your way home, you can stop over for a few days in Iceland.

Launched in 2011, WOW Air has grown quickly and has offered deeply discounted flights with few amenities to European travellers for years. It launched this plan earlier this year with cheap flights from Boston’s Logan airport and Baltimore’s Washington International.

The strategy seems to be working. WOW says its passenger loads were up by 45 per cent in June and August compared to the same period last year.

Montreal and Toronto are the start in Canada, with more to come according to the line. Hey, out here in the west…Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver would love to see you!

All for now.

For a weekly newsletter from Ports and Bows with lots of cruise information and the best deals that we can find, click here to sign up: www.canada.com/newsletter.

]]>http://o.canada.com/travel/ports-and-bows/cruise-news-and-views-you-can-use-20/feed2EpicphilreimerThe great Escape in a class by itselfhttp://o.canada.com/news/the-great-escape-in-a-class-by-itself
http://o.canada.com/news/the-great-escape-in-a-class-by-itself#respondSat, 19 Sep 2015 03:00:31 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=687536]]>In this era of shipbuilding, it only takes a couple of years to build a mega-ship. Living proof is the Norwegian Escape. It has now been floated out at Germany’s Meyer Werft Shipyard, in Papenburg, and is going through final interior work before being launched in late October.

This is the last of the really big ships to “be born” this year.

The Escape is a bloated version of the ships in the Breakaway Class and is in a category referred to as Breakaway Plus. It will carry 4,200 passengers and has added a lot of “big- name” newbies.

Headlining the new dining experiences and bar options are the first floating version of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant and The 5 o’Clock Somewhere bar. As well, James Beard Award-winning Iron Chef Jose Garces will have two concepts onboard: a Latin seafood specialty restaurant (Bayamo) and Pincho Tapas Bar.

On the entertainment side is a version of the Broadway hit Million Dollar Quartet, the musical inspired by the famed recording session that brought together then-rock ‘n’ roll icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Once she is christened, the Escape will sail 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruises, departing every Saturday from Miami. The first one leaves November 14.

* * *

The Port of Saint John, N.B., will be deepening its harbour. Why is that good news for cruise ships? More of the larger ships will be candidates for stopping there. Previously, they were at the mercy of the tides. This will also allow the larger ships to lengthen their day in port.

* * *

The cruise industry made the Conservative political promise list. If elected, the Conservatives claim they will provide funding for a new marine terminal at the Alexandra Pier in the Port of Montreal and an expanded cruise ship terminal in Quebec City which, in turn, would attract more tourists to both ports.

* * *

Next summer, Air Canada will be flying non-stop from Toronto to Budapest. For river cruisers, this is great news with Budapest being an embarkation city for many river ships. However, I took a quick look at the flying times and this may be a big deal only for people living in the eastern Prairies, Ontario and

Quebec. Using travelmath.com, the flight time to Budapest from Toronto is nine hours, 23 minutes. If you’re coming from Vancouver, add approximately two hours. That makes the flight time close to 11 hours. Over the pole to Amsterdam from Vancouver is 10 hours, plus a nearly two-hour flight to Budapest for a total of 12 hours. The same applies to Calgary, only a bit shorter on both legs. The key will be connecting times — with frequent Air Canada flights out of the West, that may connect nicely to the new route. Regardless, it’s a welcome addition to the Danube Budapest river port.

* * *

And finally, the Singapore government is adding big bucks to a marketing agreement with Royal Caribbean. The multimillion-dollar collaboration is designed to promote fly-cruise combos to Singapore from regions such as Australia, Europe and North America. At the moment, there are no non-stop services out of Canada. A Vancouver non-stop might make an encouraging start to their marketing plans.

See a cruise travel agent or princess.com. Pricing and availability as shown at time of writing.

For a weekly newsletter from Ports and Bows with lots of cruise information and the best deals that we can find, click here to sign up: www.canada.com/newsletter.

]]>http://o.canada.com/news/the-great-escape-in-a-class-by-itself/feed0Norwegian Escape float out,jpgphilreimerAir Canada Rouge 767WestJet entering air wars to Europehttp://o.canada.com/travel/ports-and-bows/westjet-entering-air-wars-to-europe
http://o.canada.com/travel/ports-and-bows/westjet-entering-air-wars-to-europe#respondFri, 18 Sep 2015 03:00:51 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=687582]]>WestJet Airlines has decided to punch it out with some of the big boys in International travel. No matter who wins the fight, it should mean lower prices for cruisers flying to Europe next summer.

Southampton is one of the biggest cruise ports in Europe, especially for the northern Baltic and around-the-UK cruises. If the airline also offers connections to other European cities it could bring the Mediterranean into play for cruisers.

The more the merrier, when it comes to flying to Europe.

All for now.

For a weekly newsletter from Ports and Bows with lots of cruise information and the best deals that we can find, click here to sign up: www.canada.com/newsletter.

]]>http://o.canada.com/travel/ports-and-bows/westjet-entering-air-wars-to-europe/feed0WestJetphilreimerCanada eclipses 2011 gold-medal count in just five days at 2015 Pan Am Gameshttp://o.canada.com/sports/canada-eclipses-2011-gold-medal-count-in-just-five-days-at-2015-pan-am-games
Thu, 16 Jul 2015 01:34:46 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=684093&preview_id=684093]]>TORONTO — It took just five days of competition at the 2015 Pan American Games for Canada to eclipse its gold-medal total from four years ago.

Canadian athletes won six more gold medals in Wednesday’s morning and afternoon events, giving the host nation 31 overall.

Canada won 30 total gold medals over 16 days at the 2011 Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Halifax gymnast Ellie Black and Canada’s rowing team contributed multiple gold medals Wednesday, while Calgary shooter Lynda Kiejko won her second gold of the Games.

Black won gold in the women’s balance beam competition and the floor exercise, giving her five medals in five events.

Black nailed her balance-beam routine with a score of 15.050 at the highest difficulty level. After her floor exercise routine that got her a score of 14.400, she blew kisses to the crowd at Ricoh Coliseum as fans roared and waved Canadian flags.

Earlier in the Games, the 19-year-old won gold in the all-around, bronze in the vault and helped Canada earn silver in the team event.

“This was more than I expected, this has been incredible,” Black said. “The support here has been amazing. I was so proud of our team coming in silver and individually in my finals, I was not expecting half of this. So thank you to everyone.”

Kevin Lytwyn of Stoney Creek, Ont., won silver in the men’s horizontal bar with a score of 15.475 and Victoria Woo of Brossard, Que., won bronze on the women’s balance beam at 13.650.

Canada earned a medal in four of five races, including three gold, on the final day of rowing competition at the Royal Canadian Henley course in St. Catharines, Ont. The men’s lightweight coxless fours, the men’s eight and the women’s quadruple sculls all topped the podium, while Rob Gibson of Kingston, Ont., added a silver in men’s single sculls.

The men’s eights led from start to finish, finishing three seconds ahead of Argentina with a time of six minutes 7.01 seconds.

The eights crew included all four members of the gold-medal-winning men’s coxless four from earlier in the meet.

“We all agreed there’s no way we could stand on that podium and listen to any other anthem with our fans, family and friends there,” said Conlin McCabe of Brockville, Ont. “The whole regatta was going to be a failure to us if we didn’t win the eights, even though we had won the fours and quad already.”

Kate Goodfellow of Perth, Ont., Kerry Shaffer of nearby Welland, Ont., Carling Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont., and Antje Von Seydlitz of Smithers, B.C., won the quad sculls in 7:07.63, more than eight seconds ahead of the U.S. who won silver in 7:16.26.

“The wind was pretty strong today so the start and first half of the race was pretty rough and I think it just came down to who handled it the best,” said Goodfellow.

Maxwell Lattimer and Brendan Hodge, both from South Delta, B.C., Nicolas Pratt of Kingston, and Eric Woelfl of St. Catharines won the men’s lightweight coxless fours.

“This is our boat for the whole summer so it’s another stepping stone in how we’re forming as a crew,” said Pratt.

Kiejko swept the women’s pistol events with a win in the women’s 25-metres.

The Calgary native beat Sandra Uptagrafft 7-3 in the final round to earn Canada’s third shooting gold of the Games.

Kiejko also won gold in the women’s 10-metre air pistol on Sunday.

“I don’t think words can actually describe how excited and just ecstatic I am right now,” she said. “I was coming into this event with it not being my forte. I have no words. I am over the moon right now.”

]]>Ellie BlackthecanadianpressWOW! Booking Alaska for the fall cruiseshttp://o.canada.com/travel/ports-and-bows/phils-wow-deals-of-the-week/wow-booking-alaska-for-the-fall-cruises
http://o.canada.com/travel/ports-and-bows/phils-wow-deals-of-the-week/wow-booking-alaska-for-the-fall-cruises#respondSun, 12 Jul 2015 03:00:36 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=683490]]>Alaska’s late bookings are starting to fill up, so I started searching for value for September…okay, one of them departs three days before September starts, but it was too good to skip. September’s the month when many cruise lines that spend the summer in Alaska move their ships to other countries to set up shop for winter.

All this week’s WOW Deals are starting prices and all are in Canadian dollars, unless noted. They do not include fees and taxes. I should mention that Alaska prices are running higher this season compared to 2014.

It’s been 25 years since Rocky Mountaineer put its first train on the rails, betting that tourists would be willing to splurge on the comfort of luxury train travel through some of Canada’s most spectacular scenery.

The wager has paid off for the Vancouver-based company, which now offers more than 45 different tour packages that range from day trips to 17-day train and cruise-ship excursions. It accommodated just over 11,500 passengers in its first year of operation and now hosts about 100,000 people a year.

Two of its most popular trips are the First Passage to the West route, which goes from Vancouver to Lake Louise and Banff, and the Journey Through the Clouds, which travels from Vancouver to Jasper. The highlight of both is seeing the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, and that’s something that wasn’t possible for years on board Via Rail.

The Crown corporation’s passenger trains travelled through some of the most scenic parts of the Rockies in the middle of the night, disappointing many travellers hoping for a view. Starting in 1988, it bowed to customer demand and started running a daylight service through the mountains, but then decided to privatize the Vancouver-to-Calgary route two years later.

That’s when a group of western Canadian businesspeople, led by Peter Armstrong, decided to buy the route and start Rocky Mountaineer. It has gradually added more trips, including the Rainforest to Gold Rush route from Vancouver to Jasper via Quesnel, and the Coastal Passage route from Seattle to Jasper or Banff.

The Rocky Mountaineer is shown in this undated handout photo. Called “one of the world’s ultimate experiences” by Lonely Planet, the Rocky Mountaineer train winds its way every summer through Alberta and the Canadian Rockies. [Rocky Mountaineer]

The company’s formula for all of its excursions is the same: offer a high level of service and amenities to complement the stunning views. In its top-tier Gold Leaf service, passengers can stretch out in roomy seats in an upper-level dome car and be served breakfast and lunch in a downstairs dining room. For multi-day trips in all levels of service, travellers stay overnight at a hotel and get back on board in the morning so they don’t miss any scenery at night.

Rocky Mountaineer operates trips from April to October. Prices range from $1,679 for a two-day Rockies excursion in the mid-range Silver Leaf service to about $11,000 for a 15-day Coastal Passage rail and cruise package with Gold Leaf Deluxe service.

]]>http://o.canada.com/travel/rocky-mountaineer-celebrates-25-years/feed0The Rocky Mountaineer gives passengers unparalleled views at elite-level prices.postmedianews1The Rocky Mountaineer is shown in this undated handout photo. Called "one of the world's ultimate experiences" by Lonely Planet, the Rocky Mountaineer train winds its way every summer through Alberta and the Canadian Rockies.Olympic speedskater Denny Morrison plots his comeback after motorcycle accidenthttp://o.canada.com/sports/olympic-speedskater-denny-morrison-plots-his-comeback-after-motorcycle-accident
Tue, 26 May 2015 20:46:02 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=609278&preview_id=609278]]>CALGARY — Denny Morrison came back from a broken left leg to win Olympic speedskating medals. He’ll need all that resilience and more on the road to the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Prior to breaking his right leg and sustaining numerous other injuries in a motorcycle accident May 7 in Calgary, the three-time Olympian was in New Zealand preparing to climb a mountain in Tongariro National Park.

Guides and hotel staff told him not to do it because it would be a wet, stormy and miserable experience that day. Morrison climbed it anyway.

“I said ‘it doesn’t matter what the conditions are. I’m going to take one step towards the top and continue that over and over and over until I get there,’ ” Morrison said. “I compare that to the recovery from this and working towards Pyeongchang.

“I have a smashed up femur and a few internal injuries. It could be a little bit miserable for awhile, but I tell you hiking that mountain and making it to the top and coming back down and proving to naysayers I made it anyway, kind of made it more fun.”

The 29-year-old from Fort St. John, B.C., owns four Olympic medals, including a team pursuit gold won in 2010.

Morrison is the current star of Canada’s long-track speedskating team, having won its two medals — a silver and a bronze — at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. He broke his left fibula while cross-country skiing just 14 months prior to those Games.

Morrison fell in the 1,000 metres at Canadian trials, but teammate Gilmore Junio vacated his spot in the distance so Morrison could race it in Sochi.

Morrison won silver, Junio became a folk hero in Canada and Morrison put an exclamation mark on the country’s feel-good story of the Games with a bronze in the 1,500 metres.

Morrison will be inducted into B.C.’s Sports Hall of Fame in Vancouver on Thursday.

He went to Calgary’s airport Monday evening not to fly to the west coast, but to greet coach Bart Schouten and teammates returning from a training camp in Phoenix, Ariz.

His teammates arrived fit and tanned. Morrison was on crutches and his left eye was red with broken blood vessels.

“I think I worried a number of them,” Morrison said. “I just want to see them in person and let them know ‘I’m injured now, but I can’t wait to be back training with you again.’ ”

Among his assorted injuries was a concussion, a punctured lung, a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, bruised liver and kidneys and a small fracture in a bone near his spine.

Schouten visited Morrison in hospital shortly after a titanium rod was surgically inserted into Morrison’s broken femur, but many of his teammates arriving from the U.S. were seeing him for the first time since the accident.

“It must be hard for him not to be there with us,” Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin said. “I think it’s been hard on the whole team not having Denny there to be a mentor for everyone.”

Morrison says he’ll meet soon with his medical staff to chart a course of rehabilitation. Neither Schouten nor Morrison ruled out the possibility the defending World Cup champion in the 1,500 metres could return to racing at some point in the 2015-16 season.

“We’re not going to rush anything or hurry anything to get him back this season,” Schouten said. “If it happens, it happens, but we’re going to make sound decisions with a long-term goal in mind and that’s the Olympics in 2018.”

Morrison’s motorcycle struck a left-turning Toyota Corolla in northwest Calgary and the car was knocked on its side. Morrison was charged with failing to yield to a yellow light, which is a fine of $155. The two people in the car did not require hospitalization.

“I’m really glad to hear they were fine,” Morrison said. “I wasn’t super-happy with how the media portrayed the accident in the first few days. They said I was screaming fast, but the investigation showed and witnesses even said I was going with the flow of traffic and was going normal speed.

“Honestly, I’m a little bit disappointed that I didn’t avoid the accident altogether. On a motorcycle you’re constantly on guard, constantly in situations where you need to be on your toes. I don’t know if I was checking my mirror or I was in the shadow of the car in front of me.

“I think my last thought was ‘this is upsetting.’ “

]]>Denny MorrisonthecanadianpressTucker the Golf Dog headlines our videos of the weekhttp://o.canada.com/news/tucker-the-golf-dog-headlines-our-videos-of-the-week
http://o.canada.com/news/tucker-the-golf-dog-headlines-our-videos-of-the-week#respondMon, 25 May 2015 19:42:27 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=609051]]>He’s man’s best friend especially if you like golf. Tucker the Golf Dog keeps a watchful eye over a local Ottawa golf course.

In other dog related news, Rob McLeod, who holds six throwing disc Guinness World Records, was in Regina with his dog Davey last week to teach some Frisbee skills.

Finally, Farzam Fallah, a pastry chef at a Toronto restaurant, treats his desserts as he would his art so that every dish is a surprise. Take a look at the video.

]]>http://o.canada.com/news/tucker-the-golf-dog-headlines-our-videos-of-the-week/feed01_i8ga09ktthecanadadotcomThe Caesar: Canada’s greatest boozy inventionhttp://o.canada.com/life/food/the-caesar-canadas-greatest-boozy-invention
http://o.canada.com/life/food/the-caesar-canadas-greatest-boozy-invention#commentsFri, 27 Jun 2014 13:22:33 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=469455]]>It’s savoury, sweet, salty, sour and bitter all at once and all in a glass. The Caesar’s unique flavour profile has made it one of Canada’s favourite cocktails since the 1970s. Originator Walter Chell, restaurant manager of the Owl’s Nest bar in the Calgary Inn (now the Westin), set out to create a liquid version of spaghetti alle vongole in rosso (spaghetti with clams and tomato) in 1969. The result was the Bloody Caesar, consisting of vodka, clam nectar, tomato juice, lime, Worcestershire sauce and celery salt.

Concurrently, the Duffy-Mott Company created Mott’s Clamato juice in the United States, which was introduced to the Canadian market that same year. Buying the juice was a lot easier than sourcing clam nectar, and the cocktail took off across Canada. Today, Clamato is the single ingredient that makes a Caesar a Caesar. Clint Pattemore, Chief Mixing Officer for Mott’s Clamato, has created more than 50 variations of the cocktail, which he shares in his book Caesars: The Essential Guide to Your Favourite Cocktail (Appetite by Random House, 2014). Food recipes from chefs Connie DeSousa and John Jackson of Calgary’s CHARCUT Roast House are also included, which is particularly fitting as DeSousa and Jackson worked together at the Owl’s Nest early in their careers.

Tequila, gin, rye whisky, rum, beer and Pimm’s No. 1 Cup are among the alcoholic ingredients Pattemore uses in his Caesar variations, in addition to the traditional vodka. “Depending on when and where and what I’m drinking it with, a classic is a classic for a reason,” Pattemore says in an interview. “[But] I love pickle juice in my Caesar, horseradish is always good. I like muddy Caesars with lots of Worcestershire. I also like to drink Caesars without vodka. So say gin or tequila, you’re starting with a base layer of flavour, which you can build on top. Gin has that botanical flavour, which works really well and tequila has that spicy, black pepper taste.”

As for the enduring appeal of the Caesar, Pattemore thinks the reason is threefold: national pride, it’s easy to make and it’s an individual drink. “I created these recipes to be more of an inspiration to the home bartender so they can see it, make it at home and adjust it to whatever they want,” Pattemore says. “If you don’t like it spicy, you don’t have to add all the hot sauce. If you want to change things around, I offer lots of tips and variations in the book. I think all of the recipes are pretty easy to make; you can find all the ingredients at any major grocery store.”

Many people are partial to specific ratios, rimmers, seasoning and garnishes when it comes to Caesars, but they can also work for a crowd. Pattemore recommends entertaining with Caesars by setting up a do-it-yourself Caesar bar, with glassware, ice, a variety of rimmers (e.g. celery salt, Montreal steak spice), a selection of hot sauces, Clamato, Worcestershire sauce, and garnishes. “Cut up veggies, cheeses, pickles – kind of like an over-the-top charcuterie board – that makes the perfect garnish for a Caesar these days,” he says. Alternatively, batch your Caesars but leave the alcohol out. Caesars make great virgin drinks and adding alcohol separately will allow you to determine who gets alcohol and how much. “And of course lots and lots of ice; keep your Caesars cold. More ice in your glass means a stronger drink that doesn’t dilute as much because it stays colder longer,” Pattemore adds.

Cucumber-Infused Caesar

PHOTO: Appetite by Random HouseCucumber-Infused Caesar

Nothing adds coolness and freshness to a cocktail like cucumber, and I find it makes a great counterpoint to the savoury nature of the Caesar. It’s essential to muddle the cucumber slices right in the mixing glass, as you would with lime if making a Mojito. It takes a bit more effort, but it’s well, well worth it.

Glass
Highball

RimFresh cracked salt and black pepper

What

4 slices cucumber

2 dashes Tabasco pepper sauce

3 grinds fresh cracked salt and black pepper

1 oz (30 mL) gin

4 oz (120 mL) Mott’s Clamato Cocktail

Garnish

Cucumber slice

Fresh cracked salt and black pepper

How

In a mixing glass, muddle everything but the gin and Mott’s Clamato Cocktail.

Add the gin and Mott’s Clamato Cocktail, and stir well to mix and spread the flavours around.

Rim a highball glass and fill to the top with ice.

Strain the mixture into the highball glass, and garnish.

Note: Add fresh basil, dill, or even mint to the muddle of ingredients for some herbiness. If you can find a cucumber-infused gin to use, even better, as it will lend another layer of cucumber flavour.

Summer Melon & Marinated Feta Skewers with Mint

C&J: This fun party favourite combines sweet, refreshing, juicy watermelon perfectly with salty feta cheese. Cherry tomatoes or bell peppers make a great addition or alternative to the cucumbers — in fact, whatever fruits or vegetables are best at the market on the days you go grocery shopping should make an appearance on these skewers. We’ve paired this dish with the Cucumber-Infused Caesar, since melon and cucumber go so well together.

1 lb (500 g) feta cheese

2 lemons

1 orange

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 sprigs fresh oregano

2½ cups (625 mL) olive oil

¼ cup (60 mL) white wine vinegar

1 bay leaf

Salt and black pepper

1 small seedless watermelon, about 1 lb (500 g)

3 Persian cucumbers (or other thin-skinned cucumbers)

¼ bunch fresh mint

12 6-inch (15 cm) bamboo skewers

Cut the feta into ½-inch (1 cm) cubes and place in a non-reactive container. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the rind off 1 lemon and the orange.

Layer the citrus rind, thyme, and oregano in among the cheese cubes. Pour 2 cups (500 mL) olive oil over the cheese, making sure the cheese is completely submerged. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the rind from the remaining lemon in ribbons.

In a small pot, bring the vinegar, lemon rind, and bay leaf to a simmer. Remove from the heat and strain out the rind and bay leaf. Let the vinegar cool, then whisk in the remaining olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Using a serrated knife, cut the rind off the watermelon: cut the ends off first, then stand the watermelon up on one end and remove the rest of the rind, starting form the top down to the bottom. Cut the watermelon and cucumbers into ½-inch (1 cm) cubes and place them in separate large bowls. Pick 24 mint leaves and place them in a separate bowl.

Onto each bamboo skewer, skewer the ingredients in the following order: watermelon, mint, cucumber, feta, mint, and watermelon, pushing them to near the bottom of the skewer but leaving 1 inch (2.5 cm) handle space.

Whisk the dressing to re-emulsify it and pour enough over the skewers to lightly coat. Serve immediately.

Note: Both the marinated cheese and the dressing can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. The skewers can be made up to 6 hours in advance and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. Pour the dressing over top right before serving.

]]>http://o.canada.com/life/food/the-caesar-canadas-greatest-boozy-invention/feed8The Classic CaesarlbrehautCaesars: The Essential Guide to Your Favourite Cocktail by Clint Pattemore, left, and Pattemore's bar toolsThe Classic CaesarCucumber-Infused CaesarSummer Melon & Marinated Feta Skewers with MintNo shortage of star power in Ducks-Blackhawks West finalhttp://o.canada.com/sports/no-shortage-of-star-power-in-ducks-blackhawks-west-final
Tue, 12 May 2015 01:23:01 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=607458&preview_id=607458]]>CHICAGO — No team in the NHL is on a bigger roll than the Anaheim Ducks and none is more tested than the Chicago Blackhawks.

These two powerhouses are about to meet in a Western Conference final full of star power and intriguing matchups.

“It’s going to be one heck of a series,” Ducks captain Corey Perry said. “They’re a great team. When you put two teams together, it’s going to be a great series. They’re a skating club, and they’re kind of similar to Calgary. They’ve got a lot of speed, a lot of skill, and you’ve got to be ready to step in front of them and eliminate their time and space, and if we do that, we’ll be all right.”

The top-seeded Ducks just might be the deepest and most physical team in the conference, if not the NHL, but they haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 2007 — the last time they got advanced past the second round. They come into this series on quite a roll, at 8-1 in the post-season after capturing their third straight Pacific Division title, but they are facing a team that knows a thing or two about winning this time of year.

The Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings have basically been trading the Stanley Cup since 2010, with each team winning twice and Boston grabbing it in 2011. Chicago missed a chance at another last year after an overtime goal by the Kings’ Alec Martinez in Game 7 of the conference final.

“They have a great team,” Chicago’s Brandon Saad said. “They have a great forecheck and they’re big and physical, and they play a good puck-possession game. It’s going to be a battle. It’s not going to come easy and we’re going to have to be patient like these past couple series.”

The Blackhawks won two of three from Anaheim during the regular season, outscoring the Ducks a combined 8-3 and surrendering just one goal in each game. They know that success against a team in the regular season does not necessarily translate to the post-season, where the stakes and the intensity go up a level or two.

“You watch ’em play, they’ve got a lot of different options they use,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Monday. “They’re very mobile and they’re strong in all aspects. … So we need to be our best in all areas ourselves. We feel like if we progress in the playoffs, you’ve got to elevate your game to beat teams that have a lot of confidence and they’ve got to be playing the right way. They’ve got a lot of things going for them.”

The Ducks certainly looked sharp while sweeping Winnipeg and ousting Calgary in five games.

Anaheim has power and force in all four lines and plenty of skill to go with it. The Ducks lead the playoffs with 35 goals, and their power play has scored a whopping 31 per cent of the time.

The Blackhawks, eyeing their third championship since 2010, got here by knocking out Nashville in six games and sweeping Minnesota. And they will certainly be well-rested by the time Game 1 rolls around. After all, they haven’t played since Thursday.

While the start date for the conference final has not been announced, one mystery was solved Sunday night when Perry bounced up off his knees and scored in a scramble in overtime against the Flames after injuring his right leg earlier in the game. With a league-leading 15 points in the playoffs, Perry sure has been a headache for opposing teams.

“He does everything pretty well,” Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford said. “He’s a strong guy around the net. He’s hard to move and his stick is so quick and he’s a hard shot, too. He’s pretty crafty too around the net. He’s tough to read. You need to be aggressive on him but at the same time try to be patient too.”

Chicago presents some headaches of its own. Besides Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane is rolling after missing the final 6 1/2 weeks of the regular season because of a broken collarbone. Kane and Perry are tied for second with seven goals and a plus-8 rating in the post-season.

“We are spoiled in a lot of ways,” Quenneville said. “We got some top guys you get to watch here as a team and they make our team go in a lot of ways. But Kaner, he’s got the wow factor along with that consistency in his game.”

]]>2015 Honda NHL All-Star Skills CompetitiontheassociatedpresscanadaBlackhawks defenceman Michal Rozsival to miss rest of playoffs with broken left anklehttp://o.canada.com/sports/blackhawks-defenceman-michal-rozsival-to-miss-rest-of-playoffs-with-broken-left-ankle
Fri, 08 May 2015 21:23:52 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=607128&preview_id=607128]]>Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Michal Rozsival will miss the rest of the playoffs because of a broken left ankle.

Rozsival was hurt when he lost his balance and fell backward in the second period of Chicago’s 4-3 series-ending victory at Minnesota on Thursday night. The Blackhawks will face Anaheim or Calgary in their third consecutive appearance in the Western Conference final.

The four-time Olympic medallist in speedskating suffered a clean fracture through the middle of his femur Thursday night after his motorcycle hit a Toyota Corolla so hard it flipped the car on its side. He had an operation Friday morning to insert a metal rod in to his leg to stabilize the bone.

“He could be walking with some assistance within four to six weeks and could even be weight bearing on his own in about eight to 12 weeks,” said Brian Rahill, Speed Skating Canada’s high performance director. “From a recovery of a broken femur, I think those timelines are fairly positive.”

Morrison, from Fort St. John, B.C., may also have internal bruising after the accident and an initial diagnosis identified a small fracture in his transverse process, a non-essential bony extension of the vertebrae. He was taken to Calgary’s Foothills Hospital orthopaedic trauma surgery department after the accident and doctors there have been in touch with Canadian speedskating team head doctor Victor Lun.

Morrison is known for his passion for racing, with his Canadian Olympic Committee bio saying that he “loves speed even outside of his sport, including fast cars and motorcycles.”

The accident occurred in the northwest section of Calgary. Morrison’s motorcycle hit the side of the Corolla with enough force to upend the car. Two women in their 20s were in the Toyota but did not need to be taken to hospital.

“Despite the severity or the intensity of the accident, his life was never in danger,” said Rahill. “Now they’re trying to address a broken leg which is nothing that unusual from that perspective.”

No charges have been laid in the accident although Calgary police are continuing their investigation.

“Our team physician, Dr. Victor Lun, was quite optimistic (about Morrison’s recovery),” said Rahill. “This is obviously significantly due to the fact of the level of fitness that Denny is at as a high-performance athlete and how much he’s always committed to his training regimen.”

Morrison has won four career Olympic medals, including one gold (2010) and one silver (2006) in the team pursuit event.

At the 2014 Sochi Games, he won the silver medal in the 1,000-metre event and the bronze in the 1,500-metre race. This season, he finished first in the overall World Cup rankings in those same two events. He also won silver medals in the 1,500 metres and the team pursuit events at the world single distance championships.

This is not the first time Morrison has suffered a serious injury off the speed-skating track. He broke his left fibula while cross-country skiing in Fernie, B.C., in December 2012. In that accident, Morrison lost an edge on his skis, went off the course and ran into a fallen log.

]]>Netherlands Speedskating WorldsthecanadianpressPeanuts and beer headline our videos of the weekhttp://o.canada.com/news/peanuts-and-beer-headlines-our-videos-of-the-week
http://o.canada.com/news/peanuts-and-beer-headlines-our-videos-of-the-week#respondMon, 04 May 2015 19:20:26 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=606247]]>What will Ontario’s new Beer Ombudsman do all day? The National Post’s Full Comment team took a Peanuts inspired look at a day in the life of the province’s newest bureaucrat.

]]>http://o.canada.com/news/peanuts-and-beer-headlines-our-videos-of-the-week/feed0Apr27_VOWthecanadadotcomKesler, Silfverberg acquisitions paying off for Ducks in playoffshttp://o.canada.com/sports/kesler-silfverberg-acquisitions-paying-off-for-ducks-in-playoffs
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 18:24:55 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=605536&preview_id=605536]]>Ryan Kesler is right at home with Jakob Silfverberg on his wing and Canadian fans booing him until their throats are hoarse.

“I loved it,” he said in Winnipeg last week. “I embraced it.”

Kesler and the Anaheim Ducks will first get the friendly confines of Honda Center in Games 1 and 2 of the Pacific Division final before moving back into hostile territory for Games 3 and 4 at Calgary. After he had five points and Silfverberg six in the first-round sweep of the Jets, the duo has chemistry going to back up Ducks stars Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

“He’s just a smart player. We read off each other well,” Kesler said of Silfverberg. “It’s been unbelievable for him to play the way he’s playing right now. He’s been one of the leaders on this team. He has definitely raised his game.”

Kesler and Silfverberg are only now part of Anaheim’s core after deals the past two summers. Kesler came from the Vancouver Canucks last off-season, and Silfverberg was part of the 2013 trade that sent Bobby Ryan to the Ottawa Senators.

When the Ducks first acquired Silfverberg, coach Bruce Boudreau thought the young Swede was a pure goal-scorer and didn’t know how good he was defensively. Now he does.

“The reason he plays all the time, an awful lot, and he kills penalties and everything is because he’s so strong in the two-way game,” Boudreau said. “His positioning, everything, is always spot on.”

Silfverberg considered his season a solid one, even if the production wasn’t always there. After 13 goals and 26 assists in the regular season, his two goals (including one game-winner) and four assists are second on the team in these playoffs.

“Lately I’m trying to hold on more to the puck and trying to make more plays out there,” Silfverberg said. “That has a lot to do with where the confidence level is right now, and I feel like Bruce trusts me and that helps out a lot, too.”

Boudreau pointed to Silfverberg’s NHL-best nine shootout goals on 13 attempts as evidence of his quick and deceptive release. It was evident on his Game 2 winner against Winnipeg that fooled Ondrej Pavelec from mid-range.

Silfverberg, who drastically outscored Ryan in the first round despite playing two fewer games, has found more offence playing alongside Kesler. The big, hard-checking centre has been exactly what the Ducks wanted.

“Kes, he’s come in and done what he’s supposed to do,” Getzlaf said. “He’s supported us, allowed me not to have to play so many minutes in certain situations, as well as doing his own job. For Kes to come in, he plays mean, he plays with an edge and he’s been able to put some pucks in the net for us.”

Of Kesler’s three goals, one was a game-winner and the other provided the exclamation point on the sweep of the Jets. Being the villain and hearing opposing fans boo feeds Kesler.

“It brings my game to the next level,” he said. “It gets me going.”

Boudreau said everywhere the Ducks go in Canada, people are saying something bad about Kesler.

“You’re going to have to ask him about what he did to this poor country,” Boudreau said. “But you know what? Some guys like it.”

Kesler said he hasn’t asked fans why he’s so unpopular in Canadian cities. His time with the Canucks would seem to do it, but the Livonia, Michigan, native scored to help beat Canada at the 2004 world juniors and during the 2010 Olympics expressed his “hate” for the red-and-white team.

That’ll do it. And Kesler won’t make any more friends in Calgary if he continues his production in the second round.

]]>KeslerthecanadianpressDucks share ‘never-die’ attitude with Flameshttp://o.canada.com/sports/ducks-share-never-die-attitude-with-flames
Mon, 27 Apr 2015 21:30:07 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=605230&preview_id=605230]]>The comeback kids from Calgary will see their third-period dopplegangers in the “never-die” Anaheim Ducks in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Like the Flames, the Ducks picked up 24 points when trailing after two periods during the regular season. And in a four-game sweep of the Winnipeg Jets, Anaheim became the first team in history to win three straight playoff games when trailing at any point in the third period.

“It’s our never-die attitude,” said winger Corey Perry, whose seven points led the Ducks. “The way we respond after (giving up) goals and not get too emotionally high or too low, that’s going to help us through.”

The Flames used their comebacks to withstand a season-ending injury to captain Mark Giordano and make an improbable run to the playoffs. Propelled by their comebacks, the Ducks claimed the top seed in the Pacific Division.

“We win. We don’t care how — we just win,” centre Ryan Kesler said. “We’ve been doing it all year. We win in different ways and the majority of times we are down in games. But for whatever reason that’s when this team plays their best is when we’re down and we’re pushing.”

Players talk of a “belief” in the locker-room and on the bench when trailing, something that subconsciously helps the Ducks. It doesn’t hurt that they have Perry, Kesler, Ryan Getzlaf and a host of other players capable of scoring timely goals.

That’s why the Ducks expressed little to no concern about leading for just over 11 minutes in their first three games against Winnipeg and a total of 53:29 all series.

“We’ve been doing that all season,” Perry said. “It’s not the ideal situation. We’ve found a way. We’ve fought back and we’ve found a way to win.”

Coach Bruce Boudreau would love for his team to flip the switch, so to speak, earlier, but he doesn’t mind the extra confidence boost that comes with so many comebacks.

“How often do you see a team in football, there’s 1:10 left and they’ve got the ball on the 30 and you know that they’re going to go all the way down and score?” Boudreau said. “I think it’s just the adrenalin that gets going, and once you get on a positive roll and you start to believe it, usually the other team says, ‘Uh oh, here they come again,’ and your team says, ‘We’re going to do it, we’re going to get it done.”‘

That’s a hallmark of Boudreau-coached teams, dating to his time in Washington. The Ducks’ and Flames’ 24 points earned this season when trailing after two periods trailed only the Detroit Red Wings.

Jets players who lacked the post-season experience of their first-round opponents conceded the Ducks’ ability to come back so well got to them.

“You’ve got to give them credit, they don’t stop,” Winnipeg centre Bryan Little said after Game 3. “They go right to the end of the game. It almost gets in your head how good they are at it.”

It’s almost like the Ducks and Flames each thrive off the sense of urgency that comes with trailing. But Kesler said he and his teammates don’t need to trail to turn it on in the third period, something they proved in Game 4 at MTS Centre.

“We find that extra gear when maybe the other team relaxes and we pour it on,” Kesler said. “That’s when we generate and that’s when we score.”

DENVER — Even after a hard loss, there were hugs and handshakes all around the Winnipeg locker room.

Sure, the Jets would’ve preferred to earn a playoff spot without any assistance Thursday night. But hey, they’re in, and really that’s all that matters. For the first time in eight seasons, no less.

“Finally, we did it,” goaltender Ondrej Pavelec said after a 1-0 shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche. “It’s a good feeling. A really good feeling.”

Ryan O’Reilly and Matt Duchene scored in the shootout, and Reto Berra stopped both Winnipeg shots. Berra finished with a season-high 41 saves, then stymied Blake Wheeler and Andrew Ladd in the shootout for his first NHL shutout.

The Jets received help from Calgary to squeeze into the playoffs as a wild card when the Flames knocked defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles out of the race. The last time the franchise made the post-season was in 2006-07, when the team was the Atlanta Thrashers. The Jets are making their first playoff appearance since relocating to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 season.

“What a feeling,” Wheeler said. “We have as good of a chance as anyone, so we’re pretty excited.”

Pavelec had another brilliant night, stopping 21 shots through overtime. But O’Reilly beat him with a backhanded shot and Duchene followed with another on a wrist shot.

Colorado did not make the playoffs this season. Instead, the Avs tried to play the role of spoiler.

“Our players deserve a lot of credit. I am very proud of them the way that they handled the situation,” Avs coach Patrick Roy said. “It would be very easy for them to shut down.”

The Jets tried to keep from scoreboard watching. They didn’t want to know what was happening in the Flames-Kings game.

Except Pavelec couldn’t resist sneaking some glances in between periods.

“Somebody said (the Kings game) was over,” Pavelec said. “It was a good feeling, especially after this game.”

A big boost to everyone’s spirits. It takes the pressure off the regular-season finale Saturday against Calgary.

“It’s the happiest I’ve ever seen (the locker room) after a loss,” Ladd said. “I don’t think we wanted to get in that way, but you take it any way you can.

“We’ve been playing playoff hockey the last three weeks, so we’re ready for it. You just have to get in to give yourself a chance.”

Berra kept the game scoreless with 14 seconds remaining in regulation when Wheeler skated in and attempted a shot that Berra thwarted with his leg. Wheeler nearly had the winner in the waning seconds of OT, but he couldn’t quite wrap in a shot from behind the net.

“It was a great night,” said Berra, who’s struggled at times this season. “I’m happy I have good form right now.”

Pavelec is on quite a roll, shutting out Minnesota and St. Louis earlier in the week. He’s started 12 of the team’s last 13 games and is 9-2-1.

Winnipeg forward Mathieu Perreault tumbled to the ice after a hit from behind midway through the second period. Perreault crawled his way to the bench, where he was assisted to the dressing room with a lower-body injury. He returned for one shift before heading back to the locker room.

All-Star defenceman Dustin Byfuglien served the fourth and final game of his suspension for his cross-check to the head of New York Rangers centre J.T. Miller on March 31.

“It’s tough to sit there and watch,” Byfuglien said before the game. “It’s not fun. No one wants to do it, but the boys have played good hockey.”

The Avs are out the playoffs one season after tying a franchise record with 52 wins. General manager Joe Sakic chalked it up to a slow start, when the team began 3-6-5.

“We’re in the toughest (conference) so you can’t afford a slow start,” Sakic said. “We have to be ready to play right from the start.”

NOTES: The Jets’ Paul Maurice coached in his 1,200th NHL game. “It’s not a milestone. It’s just a game,” the 48-year-old Maurice said. “That’s the way it feels anyway.” … Roy said F Dennis Everberg will probably undergo shoulder surgery. … Sakic hopes to work out a long-term deal with O’Reilly before the start of next season. … Berra started in goal for Semyon Varlamov, who will return to the net in the season finale against Chicago on Saturday. … Avs D Brad Stuart left with a leg injury early in the game.

]]>Reto Berra, Michael FroliktheassociatedpresscanadaHistoric season wasn’t without challenges for bobsled star Kaillie Humphrieshttp://o.canada.com/sports/historic-season-wasnt-without-challenges-for-bobsled-star-kaillie-humphries
Thu, 09 Apr 2015 19:58:36 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=602201&preview_id=602201]]>TORONTO — When Kaillie Humphries announced she would compete against men this past season, some of those men threatened to quit if she beat them. Canada’s women’s bobsled star laughed it off at the time and then got down to the business of making them eat their words.

But breaking down gender barriers hasn’t been easy for the two-time Olympic gold medallist.

Humphries became the first woman to compete in four-man bobsled at the world championships and on the World Cup circuit this past season. In Toronto this week to help promote a new women’s sport initiative, the 29-year-old from Calgary reflected on what was a tougher season than expected.

“I definitely learned this year that there’s a lot of proving I have to do … there are a lot of stereotypes. There was a lot of mental challenges I wasn’t fully aware of,” Humphries said. “I’ve been in a pretty male-dominated sport for a while and I thought I had a pretty good handle on what that was going to mean. But definitely competing with guys, in a guy’s event, is different. The starthouse is different, how they approach races is different, the intensity is different, how they think and function and act around each other … That’s an area I’ll have to adapt to if I want to be successful.”

Humphries captured her second consecutive women’s two-man title at the Sochi Olympics. Then, after successfully lobbying bobsled’s world governing body to be included, Humphries and American rival Elana Meyers Taylor made history by racing against the men.

Humphries said her reception was largely positive — and sometimes humorous.

“Four-man day, everybody loves it, you’re in the start house,” she said. “The guys just whip off their shirts and they put their little speed suits on, so I do the same. And the amount of comments after … they’re like ‘You can’t do that!’ I’m like ‘What do you mean?’ And they’re like ‘You have your little pink underwear on, and it distracts us.’

“I’m like, ‘See? Really I’m just smart.’ ”

American Steven Holcomb, the 2010 Olympic four-man champion, spoke positively about Humphries in an interview.

“He said ‘At the end of the day if Kaillie can get her start up, I look forward to actually being able to compete against her because she’s a competitor,’ ” Humphries said. “It had nothing to do with my gender. To have him say that, and to know he knows my ability as a pilot, and where I can go with this was a huge, huge compliment.”

On the heels of her historic season, Humphries was an appropriate ambassador for Fuelling Women Champions, an initiative launched this week by Dairy Farmers of Canada to help promote and sponsor Canadian female athletes and teams.

She shoulders her position as a role model gladly and talked about meeting a teenager at a recent Calgary Roughnecks lacrosse game.

“You could tell she was super shy and her dad was with her, and her dad was kind of pushing her. She told me I spoke to her soccer club right after the Vancouver Olympics,” Humphries said. “She was completely shaking, super nervous, and she just wanted a picture. Just something as simple as that, it’s very heartfelt, and you could tell that something that I’d said to her back then really stuck.

“Any time you get to hear from a fellow athlete, but especially a young girl, that what I do helps them, or gives them the confidence to achieve what they do is fantastic.”

Humphries’ fight to compete in the four-man, she said, isn’t about women versus men. She wants women to have their own four-man event.

“And in the meantime I’m going to do everything that I can to be successful, mostly just to prove everybody wrong that did say girls can’t do it,” she said. “And to prove to the guys that said, ‘Well, I’ll quit.’ I want to be the one that says, ‘Now what are you going to do?’ when it actually happens.

“I don’t think they’ll actually quit, but I definitely will do everything I can to make it happen. I want to prove to guys and girls alike that skill is skill, a competitor is a competitor.”

A win and the Flames are in the post-season for the first time since 2009. Calgary can also end the Los Angeles Kings’ bid for back-to-back Cups — and a third in four years — with a victory in regulation time.

Calgary sits third in the Pacific Division at 95 points and two points up on Los Angeles.

A team like the Kings that earns a pair of Stanley Cups over a three-year span knows how to pull out wins at crucial times. Calgary’s roster is thinner on that type of experience.

“It’s going to be the toughest two points we have to get all season,” Flames forward Matt Stajan said Wednesday.

Playing their third road game in four days, Los Angeles arrives following with a 4-2 loss in Edmonton after thumping those same Oilers 8-2 at home a week ago.

According to their own stats, their chances of making the playoffs dropped from 40.3 per cent to 21.6 with the defeat. The Kings intend to draw on their extensive battle experience at Scotiabank Saddledome.

“This is the biggest game of our season by far,” Kings defenceman Drew Doughty said. “This is basically a Game 7 for us. We’re going to treat it that way.

“I’m completely confident in this group. We’ve been in so many big games and come through in so many big games. This is another one.

“Even though we’ve done it in the past we can’t just assume we’re going to go out there and it’s going to happen. We’ve got to get back to the things we know we can do, play the way we have in the past and that’s how we’re going to have to win.”

Other post-season options were still in play for both clubs Wednesday. But if the Kings get a single point in Calgary, a Winnipeg Jets win over the Avalanche in Denver on Thursday eliminates Los Angeles from wild-card contention in the Western Conference.

Calgary posted a 3-1 record versus the Kings this season, including a pair of overtime wins. A pivotal point in the Flames’ season was their first game against the Kings in Los Angeles back on Dec. 22.

On an eight-game losing streak, Calgary trailed 3-0 late in the second when Johnny Gaudreau scored the first goal of a natural hat trick to tie the game.

Captain Mark Giordano’s overtime winner capped a stunning comeback. Calgary didn’t lose more than three in a row the rest of their season.

“It was maybe a turning point in our season,” Gaudreau said. “Going in to play the Kings in their barn, the Stanley Cup champions, to come out with a win there … I think it was a huge part of our success the rest of the year.”

The Kings gave up a point in that game they could use now, but Doughty wouldn’t give that loss more weight than others that have put Los Angeles in their precarious playoff position.

“That game, they got pretty lucky in that game to be honest,” he said.

“You can look back at that game and say it affected where we are in the standings right now, but there’s been so many games like that too that affected where we are.”

Los Angeles played backup Martin Jones in Edmonton, so Jonathan Quick will be rested for Thursday.

Jonas Hiller is familiar with many Kings’ shooters having played for Anaheim for seven seasons prior to his arrival in Calgary last summer.

“I’ve played those guys probably more than any other team,” the Flames goaltender said. “It definitely makes it a little different, especially knowing they’re the defending Stanley Cup champions. They’ve been in the playoffs for the last few years all the time.

“It makes it a little special, but at the same time I definitely know it’s not going to be an easy game. They’re going to put everything out there.”

In women’s action, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan moved to the top of the standings at 2-0 with a 9-4 win over Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni (1-1). Russia’s Anna Sidorova (1-1) was a 7-4 winner over Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin (1-1).

ST. LOUIS — Just like the night before, Ondrej Pavelec was a puck magnet. The Winnipeg Jets’ goalie got a bit of an assist from one of his defencemen, too.

Pavelec stopped 30 shots for his second consecutive shutout and the Jets strengthened their bid for a Western Conference playoff spot with a 1-0 victory over the Central-leading Blues on Tuesday night.

“He’s been unbelievable,” defenceman Tyler Myers said. “You can tell he’s playing with a lot of confidence.”

Paul Stastny had an apparent tying goal in the second period waved off and was shocked to get a slashing call instead for slapping the stick out of Myers’ hands just before putting a backhander past Pavelec. Stastny said he’d simply been “battling” for position on a 2-on-1 break, and Myers didn’t appear to have much of a grip.

“Yeah, I thought nothing of it,” Stastny said. “If it was a 50-50, where I felt a little guilty, yeah I would have thought about it. But no, I didn’t, no.”

Myers said it was the right call.

“I think it was pretty clear he just slashed my stick out of my hand,” Myers said. “I don’t think there’s much to argue there if you look at the full replay.”

The Blues held their one-point lead in the Central. Second-place Nashville and Chicago, three points back, both also lost.

Chris Thorburn gave the Jets the game’s first goal for the fourth straight game and eighth out of nine, and Pavelec made it stand up one night after making 31 saves in a 2-0 victory at Minnesota. Pavelec has four shutouts overall.

The Jets, who have won three straight, are battling Los Angeles and Calgary for the final two playoff spots in the West.

“We know we can do It,” Ondrej said. “In the third period the puck was just missing the net. You needed luck to get a shutout.”

Coach Paul Maurice said playing on consecutive nights was rough on the Jets’ legs.

“There was a cost to it, and you could see it at times, but not in terms of effort,” Maurice said. “Our goaltending was really good and everybody on the bench had a piece of the game, and the game-winning goal comes from the line that played the least but had the biggest impact.”

Thorburn played just 6:31, second-fewest on the Jets.

Jake Allen made 30 saves for the Blues, again missing top scorers Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen. Both are skating and expected back for the playoffs.

Allen kept it close when he stopped Blake Wheeler on a breakaway with just over 2 minutes remaining.

St. Louis finishes at home against the Blackhawks on Thursday night and Minnesota on Saturday. Winnipeg, fighting Los Angeles and Calgary for the final playoff spots in the Western Conference, is at Colorado Thursday before finishing at home against the Flames on Saturday.

The Blues won the season series 3-1-1, all but one of the games decided by one goal.

“It seems like we’re getting a little bit of a rivalry,” Blues forward T.J. Oshie said. “They did a good job pushing back when we had momentum and we have to find ways to score.”

Thorburn’s seventh goal of the season, and first since Feb. 14, came just 7 seconds after Winnipeg forward Mathieu Perrault was briefly knocked out of the game after getting cross-checked to the back of the head by Ryan Reaves.

The Jets were unable to capitalize on a double-minor call on Oshie, whose check made contact with Mark Stuart’s head at 16:41.

“I got no comments about the refs,” Oshie said. “We can talk about something else.”

NOTES: Jets F Dustin Byfuglien served the third game of a four-game suspension for cross-checking Rangers centre JT Miller to the neck. … Pavelec has started 11 of Winnipeg’s last 12 games, going 9-2. … Blues F Olli Jokinen played against the Jets for the fifth time this season with three different teams. … Standing room attendance of 19,616 was the Blues’ 22nd sellout.

Koe (1-0), who shot 86 per cent, scored four in the sixth to seal the victory at Mattamy Athletic Centre. He had deuces in each of the second and fourth ends.

Gushue (0-1) shot just 66 per cent and scored singles in the first and fifth ends.

The Players’ Championship is the last of five events on the Grand Slam of Curling schedule. The tournament runs until Sunday.

In other first-draw men’s play, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen (1-0) put up single points in the final two ends to edge Sven Michel of Switzerland 7-5.

On the women’s side, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan is also 1-0 after a convincing 10-3 win over Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson.

Homan shot 94 per cent, scoring three in the seventh end, deuces in the third, fourth and fifth, and a single in the first.

In the other games, Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni (1-0) downed Kristy McDonald of Winnipeg 9-5 and Sherry Middaugh (1-0) of Coldwater, Ont., scored a tie-breaking point in the eighth end of her 6-5 win over Edmonton’s Val Sweeting.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Winnipeg Jets gave their playoff push a big boost with a disciplined, patient performance that turned into a vital victory at Minnesota.
They also prevented the Wild from clinching a wild-card spot in the process.

Blake Wheeler and Drew Stafford scored, Ondrej Pavelec made 32 saves and the Jets beat the Wild 2-0 on Monday.

The Wild stayed stuck on 96 points after their first loss by more than one goal in 34 games since Jan. 19. They must finish the regular season on the road, where they’ve won 10 straight games to set a franchise record, with visits to Central Division rivals Chicago, Nashville and St. Louis.

“We still control where we finish, so I think we’ll all take that,” Wild left wing Zach Parise said.

The Jets, who reached 94 points, play at St. Louis on Tuesday and Colorado on Thursday before returning home to wrap up the regular season against Calgary. That contest has the potential to become a play-in game.

The Jets kept the pressure on not only the Wild but the Pacific Division teams that haven’t secured one of the three playoff berths on the other side of the rugged Western Conference. With Minnesota and Winnipeg plus Vancouver, Calgary and Los Angeles all scrapping for four available spots, the final five days on the schedule set up to be an intense prelude to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

This game was the perfect example. Wild right wing Chris Stewart was called for roughing in the opening minutes after a tangle with Jets defenceman Mark Stuart, and Wheeler scored on the ensuing power play with a shot that bounced off Wild defenceman Marco Scandella’s skate. The Wild and their fans roared their disgust that Stuart wasn’t penalized, too, but the Jets kept their cool.

“We don’t back down from much. There’s something to be said for keeping your composure this time of year,” Wheeler said. “If you have to take a punch early in the game like Stu-ee did to get a power-play goal, those are the things that factor into wins.”

Devan Dubnyk stopped 32 shots for the Wild, whose losing streak stretched to three games for the first time since Dubnyk was acquired in the season-saving trade with Arizona on Jan. 14. Coach Mike Yeo said he sensed some “tension” in his team, with the desire to clinch at home so strong.

“I could tell that we were ramped up, right from the start. You need to play the game with emotion, but you have to make sure that you’re controlling it, too,” Yeo said.

The Wild outshot the Jets 23-18 after the first intermission and had plenty of prime scoring opportunities, including Thomas Vanek’s slap shot that pinged off the post in the second period. But Stafford gave the Jets a cushion with his rebound attempt that eluded Dubnyk a few minutes later.

“Sometimes I think this team’s better in a must-win situation,” Vanek said. “Maybe it’s good for us to get back on the road.”

One of several key players who joined the Jets after in-season trades, Stafford has eight goals and 10 assists in 23 games since the big deal with Buffalo. The Jets have won eight of their last 11 games. Pavelec, who earned his third shutout of the season, has all eight of those victories in 10 starts.

“It starts with Pav in net making some unbelievable saves,” Stafford said. “There seemed to be a couple times we were circling the wagons in our own end. On special teams he was able to stop the play, kill the play, and we were able to catch our breath, get a little bit of that momentum back.”

NOTES: The Wild are 34-6-4 when scoring first, but in losing these last three their opponent has gotten the first goal each time.Ben Chiarot replaced Toby Enstrom on the blue line for the Jets, who were also missing Dustin Byfuglien to his suspension. Enstrom was out with an upper body injury he suffered in the last game. Chiarot missed the last 17 games with an upper body injury. … The Wild fell to 26-8-3 since the Dubnyk trade.

]]>Jets-Wild-Hockey.jpgtheassociatedpresscanadaWestJet warns of overcapacityhttp://o.canada.com/business/westjet-reports-more-flights-more-empty-seats-on-planes
Mon, 06 Apr 2015 13:18:32 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=601449&preview_id=601449]]>CALGARY — WestJet Airlines Ltd. (TSX:WJA) says its passenger traffic continued to grow last month, but by less than the additional capacity it has added to its system.

The company’s chief executive, Gregg Saretsky, says that the industry’s supply has been rising faster than demand in some southern markets and that trend has depressed load factors.

WestJet’s load factor last month fell 2.7 points from a year ago to 81.3 per cent, from 84 per cent in March 2014.

However, Saretsky says WestJet continues to be pleased with its growth in passenger traffic and expects to meet its first quarter guidance in terms of revenue per available seat.

The airline says its passenger traffic in March was up 1.5 per cent from a year ago, to 1.93 billion revenue passenger miles.

Its capacity grew by 4.8 per cent, to 2.37 billion available seat miles.

]]>WestJetthecanadianpressFather Knows Best: Morris helping Canadian team at worldshttp://o.canada.com/sports/father-knows-best-morris-helping-canadian-team-at-worlds
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 18:17:05 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=600602&preview_id=600602]]>HALIFAX — The red and white Canadian colours have become a familiar look for curling coach Earle Morris.

He wore them with Rachel Homan’s rink at the world women’s curling championships in 2013 and 2014 and he’s sporting them again this week with the Canadian team at the men’s world playdowns at Scotiabank Centre.

This time around, Morris is coaching his son John, skip Pat Simmons, second Carter Rycroft and lead Nolan Thiessen.

“To be a cheerleader is my first job and my second job is to stay out of the way,” Morris said with a laugh.

Morris was planning to step away from full-time coaching duties after leaving the Homan rink at the end of last season. But the appeal of working with his son and his teammates lured the 69-year-old back in.

“I think we’re doing a lot of good things on the team and he just brings that extra special experience, laid-backness and composure and veteran attitude to the team,” John said. “We’ve got a great support group with everyone.”

Simmons said Earle has helped the rink in many ways.

“He’s a really good organizer, he’s got some great ideas as far as strategies, how to practise, how to prepare for events,” he said. “We have great training camp practices when we’re together as a team. He’s just a very positive influence.

“He’s fully supportive, he says the right things, he’s been invaluable for us.”

Earle is joined by national team coach Rick Lang and team leader Paul Webster at this event.

“There’s nothing more we could ask for,” said John, 36. “We’re very comfortable with everyone on the team. They all bring little different things. It’s just a really great situation to be around.”

The team played a limited schedule over the first half of the season and found its stride after the New Year. Rycroft, who took most of the first half off, started playing more often and things started to improve at the Continental Cup and the Skins Game.

A slow start at the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary nearly proved costly. The defending champs rebounded and pulled out three big playoff wins to earn a trip to the world championship.

“By the time we got to the end, we were really cooking and now here we are,” Earle said.

John Morris gave up his skipping duties after a 2-3 start at the Brier. Simmons took over with Morris returning to his longtime position as third and the team hasn’t looked back.

“It is really rewarding because he’s a great guy,” Earle said of working with his son. “I’m so proud of the fact that he suggested making the change during the Brier. It was a difference-maker.”

Earle made it to three Briers as a player before turning to coaching. He worked with John as a junior and is very much enjoying being a part of his current team as well.

“When he was a teenager of course, it was that usual parent-teenager thing,” Earle said. “We get along well, we have a similar sense of humour. The guys are all great together. It’s just been really fun.”

]]>Earle Morris Pat SimmonsthecanadianpressTim Hunter named head coach of Canadian under-18 men’s hockey squadhttp://o.canada.com/sports/tim-hunter-named-head-coach-of-canadian-under-18-mens-hockey-squad
Fri, 27 Mar 2015 19:04:36 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=600109&preview_id=600109]]>CALGARY — Former NHL player Tim Hunter was named the head coach of Canada’s under-18 men’s hockey team Friday.

Hunter, 54, will lead Canada into the world under-18 championship April 16-26 in Zug and Lucerne, Switzerland.

Hunter, the head coach of the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, will make his first appearance behind the bench for Canada. He played in 815 career NHL games over 16 seasons with Colorado, Calgary, Vancouver and San Jose.

Hunter had 62 goals and 76 assists and helped the Flames win the Stanley Cup in 1989. He also served as an assistant coach in the 14 NHL seasons with Washington, Toronto and San Jose.

]]>Tim HunterthecanadianpressCalgary man who taped mouths of dog, cat, killing them, sentenced to 22 monthshttp://o.canada.com/news/calgary-man-who-taped-mouths-of-dog-cat-killing-them-sentenced-to-22-months
Fri, 27 Mar 2015 18:57:18 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=600100&preview_id=600100]]>CALGARY — A Calgary man who abused, starved and killed a dog and cat was sentenced to 22 months in jail Friday and is banned from owning a pet for the rest of his life.

Nicolino Camardi, who is 19, has been in custody since he was arrested last May and is being given 16 months of credit for time served.

“I accept that there is rehabilitative requirement in a fit sentence of a very troubled and severely addicted young man,” said Justice George Gaschler.

“There is also a need for close community supervision of Mr. Camardi who is at risk of relapse and consequent further criminal and violent behaviour.”

Camardi pleaded guilty in December to wilfully causing unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal.

The Calgary Humane Society began an investigation in January 2014 after a dog was found dead with tape around its muzzle and a dead cat was discovered with tape covering most of its face.

An examination at a veterinarian’s office determined the dog had suffered chronic malnourishment before its death. The cat had been strangled and had injuries to its head, tail and hind limbs.

The humane society says the sentence reflects the serious nature of the offences.

“This is a horrific and violent crime that got the attention of the city and beyond in a way that animal cruelty has not before,” said Brad Nichols, manager of animal cruelty investigations.

“This was the case that citizens put their foot down and said, we are not going to tolerate animal abuse. This was the most complex animal cruelty case that we have ever investigated.”

The Crown prosecutor had asked the court to impose a “new high-water mark” in the sentencing but this sentence falls short of the three years he had requested.

“Perspective is important here. This, to my knowledge, is the highest sentence in Alberta ever received for an animal cruelty case,” said Gord Haight.

“My submission, quite simply, was the facts demanded it. This was certainly the most serious case of animal cruelty that I had ever prosecuted before.”

Camardi was also handed three years of probation and was ordered to attend counselling for anger issues, drugs and alcohol.

He remained silent as the sentence was read in court. Earlier this week he did offer a brief apology.

“I just want to say I understand what I did. It was horrible,” he said. “I know that I can do it (change) and am really sorry for the things I’ve done. The public and everyone has a right to feel the way they do.”

Heather Anderson from the Daisy Foundation, a group that fights for stiffer penalties for animal abusers, was disappointed.

“It’s pathetic that our justice system does not see that these animal abuse cases need to have much higher penalties. It’s just not right,” Anderson said choking back tears.

“It’s time that something happened and people started speaking out on behalf of these animals.”

]]>CRIME-Animal-Abuse-20150327.jpgthecanadianpressRejuvenated Daley has no intention to stop coachinghttp://o.canada.com/sports/rejuvenated-daley-has-no-intention-to-stop-coaching
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 19:34:58 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=599216&preview_id=599216]]>Jim Daley has received the green light to cut loose.

In January, Daley had to turn down an offer to return as the Toronto Argonauts’ special-teams co-ordinator for personal and health reasons. Two months later, Daley has received a clean bill of health following some heart trouble and although he still doesn’t have a coaching position for 2015, he’s anxious to return to the sidelines.

“If the players I coached in Hamilton and Toronto thought I was wired before, they haven’t see the new me yet,” Daley said with a chuckle recently in a telephone interview from his off-season home in Calgary. “I am raring to go.”

The 63-year-old Ottawa native, who served as Hamilton’s special-teams co-ordinator in 2012, said Toronto head coach Scott Milanovich’s offer came at a time when he was having issues with his heart. Although Daley wanted to return, he couldn’t make the commitment in January and understands Milanovich ultimately hiring Scott Downing as the club’s special-teams coach.

“When I got the offer from Scott to return, I was unable to make a commitment for personal and health reasons,” Daley said. “Those reasons have now been addressed but the timing wasn’t good because now everybody has filled their jobs.

“But I had to take care of those issues first. I loved it in Toronto but I wasn’t going to be unfair to them. I am high energy and full motor … I want to be able to do that job with the intensity I feel it needs. I want to do it that way.”

Daley has spent 38 years coaching football and has spent time as a head coach, defensive and offensive co-ordinator as well as special-teams co-ordinator in both the Canadian university and pro ranks. The former Ottawa Gee Gees head coach has worked in the CFL since ’91 as a coach as well as the league’s senior adviser of football operations and officiating.

Daley served as CFL head coach with Winnipeg (2004-05) and Saskatchewan (96-98), guiding the Riders to the ’97 Grey Cup game. Daley earned a championship ring in ’01 as a member of Calgary’s coaching staff.

As Daley waits for the phone to ring, he’s revamping his special-teams playbook.

“I’m going to coach for many more years,” he said. “I’ve coached on all three sides of the ball so if a (CFL) job opened that I was a fit for, I’d be very interested in it.

“Sometimes CIS coaches bring guys in just for the season so that might even be of interest … whether it’s this year or next, I am coaching.”

And that’s in large part, Daley said, because of his two previous stints with Hamilton (2012) and Toronto (last year).

“My last two years of coaching in Hamilton and Toronto have rejuvenated me as a coach,” Daley said. “When you work with guys like (returner) Chris Williams and (linebacker) Marc Beswick in Hamilton and (returner) Chad Owens, (linebacker) James Yurichuk and (kicker-punter) Swayze Waters in Toronto, I really, really loved it.

“In both situations we had the (special-teams) player of the year in Chris Williams (2012) and Swayze Waters (2014). I’m like a 30-year-old again.”

]]>Toronto Argonauts v Saskatchewan RoughridersthecanadianpressJohn Morris in his wheelhouse as Canada’s third for world curling championshiphttp://o.canada.com/sports/john-morris-in-his-wheelhouse-as-canadas-third-for-world-curling-championship
Tue, 17 Mar 2015 23:28:18 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=598274&preview_id=598274]]>CALGARY — John Morris says he’s comfortable Canada will be attached to Pat Simmons’ name and not his at the upcoming men’s world curling championship.

Their team started the Canadian championship in Calgary as “Team Canada’s John Morris” and ended it victorious as “Team Canada’s Pat Simmons.”

The Calgary-based foursome opens the 2015 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship against the United States on March 28 at the Halifax Metro Centre.

With a 2-3 record on Day 3 of the Tim Hortons Brier, Morris abruptly demoted himself to third and told Simmons to skip. The move transformed the team.

Simmons, Morris, second Carter Rycroft and lead Nolan Thiessen claimed the fourth and final playoff berth. They ran the playoff table to upset reigning Olympic champion Brad Jacobs of Northern Ontario in the final March 8.

It will be the second straight trip to the world championship for Simmons, Rycroft and Thiessen. They lost the bronze-medal game last year in Beijing with skip Kevin Koe. When Koe left to form a new team, his former teammates recruited Morris to skip them.

But what emerged from the lineup change during the Brier was how much Morris is in his element playing third, and also how much of a clutch shotmaker Simmons can be with his team’s last rock of the game in his hand.

“If Pat’s going to play like he did at the Brier, I’ll play third for him until we retire,” Morris said Tuesday at the Glencoe Club.

Morris, 37, has spent 17 years of his curling career playing skip. His greatest successes in the sport, however, came as Kevin Martin’s vice for seven years — a pair of Canadian championships, a world championship and an Olympic gold medal.

The firefighter from Chestermere, Alta., skipped B.C. in last year’s Brier, but threw third stones in front of Jim Cotter.

His body language in Calgary this year went from slumped shoulders on opening weekend to energized as the team went 8-1 after the position switch.

“I’m an energy guy on the team,” Morris explained. “When I’m deep in thought at the other end of the ice and I’m only communicating with one person, sometimes I found I wasn’t really utilizing my strengths as much as I could.

“I think as far as shooting is concerned, being able to throw third rocks, have an impact with the front end and the skip with strategy, I think that’s probably my best role in curling.”

His own experiences at skip, as well as previous games played against Simmons, had Morris recognizing the 40-year-old chiropractor from Moose Jaw, Sask., could make that winning draw to the button.

“Some guys are natural skips and I think Pat is a natural skip,” Morris said. “You saw him in Saskatchewan five years ago. He had a pretty good team, but he was a really good skip. He beat us when (I) was playing with Kevin Martin.

“He’s a great process-oriented skip that really thinks things through. He went from probably an 80 per cent shooter to a 90 per cent shooter at skip, which is unheard of. When you’re moving up a position, it’s supposed to get tougher.”

]]>John MorristhecanadianpressPan Am Games will pass the torch 3,000 times before the finish line in Torontohttp://o.canada.com/sports/pan-am-games-will-pass-the-torch-3000-times-before-the-finish-line-in-toronto
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 19:00:00 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=598009&preview_id=598009]]>TORONTO — Four-time Olympic athlete Simon Whitfield, a Toronto police officer and a youth worker from one of the city’s inner suburbs will help carry the Pan Am Games torch on its 41-day journey through more than 130 Canadian communities.

The first of about 3,000 torchbearers were announced Monday at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, where organizers also unveiled the torch design and torchbearer uniforms.

“It’s just so exciting because I get to be a part of Canadian history… I get to one day tell my children that I did this,” said Francis Atta, 28, a youth worker and motivational speaker in the city’s troubled Jane and Finch neighbourhood.

Though he hasn’t been told which part of the route he’ll run, Atta said he hopes it will be his home ground because it will inspire others and “people will go crazy.”

City of Toronto Mayor John Tory, right, and torch bearer Francis Atta, left, pose with the official Pan Am torch. [THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette]

Zsofia Balazs, a 24-year-old swimmer who won silver in the 2007 Pan Am Games, is waiting to hear whether she’ll compete this summer as well as run in the torch relay.

“It is a lot of pressure to now actually make the team,” and balance her job as a Toronto police officer, she said.

Balazs said running with the torch carries its own unique stress.

“The torch does have that magic and they say there’s a myth that if the torch goes out, it’s bad luck for the Games,” she said.

Whitfield recalled the thrill of seeing cheering crowds on the sidelines when he carried the Olympic flame in Victoria, B.C., for the Winter Games five years ago.

“It’s an experience about community,” he said Whitfield.

The orange and white torch features pictograms of athletes in action, stands 65 centimetres high and weighs just over a kilogram.

The flame will be lit in May in a traditional ceremony in Teotihuacan, Mexico, before it travels to Canada, arriving in Toronto on May 30 and returning there for the Games’ opening ceremony on July 10.

The torch will venture outside of Ontario, with appearances in Richmond, B.C., Calgary, Winnipeg, Gatineau, Que., Montreal and Halifax.

Over 60 alternative modes of transportation will be used, including plane, train and ferry boat.

About 6,600 athletes from 41 countries will compete in 36 sports at the Games, which will be held from July 10 to 26.

Canada plans to field its largest-ever Pan Am Games team of 700 athletes.

The Parapan Am Games are set for Aug. 7-15.

Olympian Simon Whitfield poses with the official Pan Am torch and uniforms. [THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette]

Leman, from Calgary, earned a bronze medal earlier this season at Val Thorens, France.

12:54ET 14-03-15

]]>FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup - Men's and Women's Ski CrossthecanadianpressNazem Kadri to stay on sidelines for Maple Leafs’ next two gameshttp://o.canada.com/sports/nazem-kadri-to-stay-on-sidelines-for-maple-leafs-next-two-games
Wed, 11 Mar 2015 15:39:55 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=597066&preview_id=597066]]>TORONTO — Concerned about a trend of off-ice issues, the Toronto Maple Leafs are holding Nazem Kadri out of the next two games.

President Brendan Shanahan said Kadri’s problems go beyond being late for a team meeting Sunday, the incident that served as the impetus for this team suspension.

“It’s time for him to start making better decisions,” Shanahan said Wednesday morning at Air Canada Centre. “There’s a history here and there comes a point in the careers of many hockey players in similar situations, there comes a point where you’ve got to grow up. Naz is 24 now. This is not something that we felt would benefit him if we swept it under the rug.

“So he understands our decision, he understands how serious we are about him taking the next step. And incidents like this won’t be tolerated.”

Kadri, who will miss Wednesday’s home game against the Buffalo Sabres and Friday’s road game against the Calgary Flames, was not made available to speak with reporters. On Monday, when he was a healthy scratch against the New York Islanders, the centre said he apologized to teammates and coaches for what he called an “uncharacteristic” mistake.

The Leafs’ punishment made it clear this isn’t so uncharacteristic. Shanahan said there have been “some incidents” in Kadri’s past but refused go into the details.

“If this was a one-time thing, yeah, you’d love to handle this internally and have him take the guys to lunch, pay a fine, donate some money to charity, something like that,” Shanahan said. “This is a moment where a player has to look in the mirror and make some decisions.”

Shanahan said Kadri would be available to play Saturday at the Vancouver Canucks “if things go well.”

A restricted free agent this summer, Kadri is fourth on the team with 36 points (16 goals, 20 assists). As the team goes into a rebuilding process this summer, Shanahan implied that the 24-year-old London, Ont., native won’t be going anywhere.

“It’s time for him to take the next step, and we care about him,” Shanahan said. “We think he’s an important part of this future. And if we didn’t think there was potential for him to be an important part of our future, we might not be feeling the same way about this incident.”

Interim coach Peter Horachek said the team was “very aware” of Kadri’s situation. Asked if this same call would have been made if the Leafs were in the playoff hunt, Horachek referenced the Predators suspending Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn in the 2012 playoffs when he was a Nashville assistant.

“Sometimes you have to make the hardest decisions (that) are based on doing the right thing for the team,” Horachek said.

Shanahan wants this to be a “real learning moment” for Kadri and added that what’s important is how he responds. Horachek expects Kadri to respond “like a pro.”

His teammates are banking on that.

“He’s suffering the consequences, and he’s going to move on and it’s going to be fine,” winger Joffrey Lupul said.

Notes: The Leafs called up defenceman Andrew MacWilliam on Wednesday and he’ll make his NHL debut against Buffalo. … Jonathan Bernier will start in goal against the Sabres’ Anders Lindback.

]]>Sami Vatanen; Nazem KadrithecanadianpressBrad Gushue defends comments he made about bronze-medal game at Brierhttp://o.canada.com/sports/brad-gushue-defends-comments-he-made-about-bronze-medal-game-at-brier
Tue, 10 Mar 2015 21:11:56 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=596944&preview_id=596944]]>ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue said he doesn’t regret his recent criticism of the bronze-medal game format used at the Tim Hortons Brier, although he admits the timing of his comments could’ve been better.

Gushue settled for an appearance in the third-place game at the Canadian men’s curling championship after losing the semifinal to Team Canada on Saturday in Calgary. After the defeat, Gushue said his team would play hard for the bronze medal but added, “I don’t know how hung over we’ll be.”

He went on to describe the bronze medal match as “the dumbest game in curling.”

On Tuesday, Gushue told a St. John’s radio station he’s not a big drinker and his comments were said in a joking manner during a scrum with reporters.

“We did not go out and drink that night,” Gushue told VOCM. “To be honest, we spent most of the night in our rooms with some tears and we were just having a hard time (accepting the loss).”

Gushue finished fourth overall after dropping a 7-5 decision to Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock on Sunday. Pat Simmons skipped the Canadian team to a 6-5 win over Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs for the gold medal.

The 34-year-old Gushue won Olympic gold at the 2006 Turin Games. He has skipped his team to the Brier playoffs on eight occasions over 12 appearances, but has never won the national title.

Gushue is also the frontman for a group interested in trying to bring the 2017 Brier to St. John’s. The group is expected to make a formal bid presentation to Curling Canada next month.

]]>Brad GushuethecanadianpressSkip switch ends in Brier title for Team Canadahttp://o.canada.com/sports/simmons-draws-to-pin-in-11th-team-canada-wins-brier
Mon, 09 Mar 2015 02:38:48 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=596498&preview_id=596498]]>CALGARY — The first team to wear the Maple Leaf at the Canadian men’s curling championship can wear it again next year.

Pat Simmons, John Morris, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen upset Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs 6-5 in an extra end of Sunday’s final of the Tim Hortons Brier.

With a guarded Northern Ontario stone on the four-foot rings, Simmons drew for a piece of the button and the win.

“I’m really proud of the boys for hanging in there today,” Simmons said. “It was a tough mental battle out there against a great team.”

Team Canada skip Pat Simmons celebrates his Brier-winning shot. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

The Glencoe Club foursome from Calgary will represent Canada at the Ford World Curling Championship in Halifax later this month and earned an automatic entry into next year’s Brier in Ottawa as Team Canada again.

A shakeup to their lineup earlier in the week transformed the team into a contender. A demoralizing loss to Saskatchewan on the third day of the tournament dropped them to 2-3.

Morris made the eyebrow-raising decision that night to demote himself to third and hand skipping duties over to Simmons.

They went on a 5-1 run with their lone loss to Jacobs and claimed the fourth and final playoff berth with a 7-4 record.

Northern Ontario went 10-1 to top the preliminary round. The reigning Olympic champions won the Page playoff game Friday against Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador to earn an express ticket to the final.

Team Canada won two hard playoff games Saturday, with the first going an extra end against Saskatchewan and the semifinal coming down to Simmons’ last rock against Gushue.

“I’m drained. I’m sure the guys are too,” Simmons said. “We went through a lot and more than most teams would go through in a week like this obviously.”

Team Canada, left to right: skip Pat Simmons, third John Morris, second Carter Rycroft, lead Nolan Thiessen and coach Earl Morris. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

The first Brier final featuring eight players who had previously won it tested their patience early and also those watching with five of the first six ends blanked. The next five ends provided drama, however.

Down two points coming home with hammer, Northern Ontario scored a deuce to force the extra end. Simmons attempted a runback double with his last throw for the win, but left one in the rings for a Jacobs draw for two.

Canada led for the first time after the ninth end when Simmons drew for a piece of the button and a pivotal three-pointer.
Jacobs had attempted to nestle between two Canadian counters on the button and force Simmons to one point. The skip was slightly heavy on his draw and left the opening for Simmons’ deuce.

Jacobs needed a big effort from his sweepers in the eighth end to draw the eight-foot rings against four Canadian counters. He scored one to lead 3-2.

Canada tied it in the seventh when Jacobs’ attempted runback double cleared just the top stone. Simmons was left with an open draw for two.

Four blanked ends to open a championship game was a Brier record. As the higher playoff seed, Jacobs started with last-rock advantage.

He finally scored his two in the fifth with a mid-weight double raise to the button. He tapped Canada’s stone out the back and left a second Northern Ontario counter undisturbed on the four-foot rings.

Curling Canada introduced a defending champion into this year’s Brier field. Simmons, Rycroft and Thiessen won last year’s title in Kamloops, B.C., with Kevin Koe at skip to earn the automatic berth.

Koe left to form the team that represented Alberta in Calgary, but they finished outside the playoffs. His former teammates recruited Morris last April to skip them this year.

The 36-year-old had announced just a few weeks earlier he’d planned to take this season off from curling. They played a light game schedule this winter with Rycroft and Thiessen travelling down from Edmonton for training camps at the Glencoe.

Their chemistry not well established coming into this Brier, Morris says he recognized early that “the keys weren’t fitting in the keyholes.”

He had enormous success playing third for Kevin Martin from 2006 to 2013 as they won Olympic gold, a pair of Canadian championships and a world title during that span.

Morris moved seamlessly back into that position. The question was would Simmons be able to as well? While he’d skipped Saskatchewan at four straight national championships from 2005 to 2008, he hadn’t played the position in five years when Morris handed him the reins.

Simmons assumed leadership plotting strategy, outcurled the opposing skip in six of eight games prior to the final and made the final shot to win both the semifinal and the final.

Morris is a firefighter in the Calgary area. Simmons, 40, is a chiropractor. Rycroft, 37, owns an equipment rental company and Thiessen, 34, is a chartered accountant.

In the box of bonuses that go to the Brier winner, Team Canada earns a combined $75,000 in prize money and sponsorship money for wearing crests.

They’re eligible for up to $144,000 over a two-year period from Sport Canada, as well as funding from Own The Podium for training and competition costs. Second place was worth $55,000, the bronze $45,000 and fourth $35,000.

They gain automatic entry into this year’s Home Hardware Canada Cup of Curling and next year’s World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling in Las Vegas. They’ve also qualified for the 2017 pre-trials for the next Winter Olympics.
Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock beat Gushue 7-5 in an extra end in the bronze-medal game.

Jacobs, his third Ryan Fry, Rycroft and Manitoba lead Colin Hodgson were named to the tournament’s first all-star team. Gushue and Alberta’s Marc Kennedy, Brent Laing and Ben Hebert were chosen second-team all-stars.

Although television ratings are up for curling this winter, attendance in Calgary was down from the 246,126 of 2009 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Even with an extra bronze-medal game that wasn’t played in 2009, the 2015 Brier drew 151,835.

Kramer skated to a time of 12 minutes 56.70 seconds in the 10,000-meter event on Sunday to win the ISU world allround championships at the Olympic Oval.

It was a record seventh men’s title for the 28-year-old Dutch skater, who missed last year’s allround championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands with a respiratory ailment that eventually required a pair of surgeries.

“It took me like three, four months away from training, so my summer wasn’t the best preparing summer for the winter,” said Kramer, who won two golds and a silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. “Overall, I’m really satisfied with this. Maybe it’s kind of history we’re making today.”

Only Gunda Niemann of Germany has won more world allround titles than Kramer. Niemann won eight women’s titles in the 1990s.

On Saturday, Kramer finished 10th in the 500 before winning the 5,000. He then placed third in the 1,500 before beating his nearest competitor in the 10,000 by more than eight seconds to take home the title.

Russia’s Dennis Yuskov won the 1,500 on Sunday before falling to fifth in the 10,000 to finish in second ahead of bronze medallist Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Norway.

Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., was ranked fourth heading into the final race before finishing eighth in the 10,000 to fall to seventh place overall.

“I like to make this analogy where it’s like asking Usain Bolt to run a marathon against some of the best marathoners in the world and expecting him to keep up,” said Morrison, who finished the 10K race in a time of 13 minutes 54.90 seconds. “It’s not really my distance. It’s not what I train for and it is what these guys train for.”

Despite not reaching the podium, Morrison enjoyed competing in his home country in front of an appreciative crowd at the Olympic Oval.

“Ultimately I didn’t really win anything today,” he said. “I didn’t make it to the podium today, but I still took a victory lap afterward. I know it was gruelling to watch and it took longer than I wanted it to, but I appreciate them sticking around and cheering me on right to the finish.”

In the women’s event, Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic won gold after finishing first in the 5,000 in a time of six minutes 51.21 seconds.

“I’m happy because it’s nice to be a world champion,” said Sablikova, who fell in the 5,000 the last time the world allround championships were held in Calgary in 2011. “Just every step, I was thinking that I can’t fall this year.”

Defending women’s champion Ireen Wust of the Netherlands won silver, while Ida Njatun finished first in the 1,500 on Sunday and fourth in the 5,000 to climb into the bronze-medal position.

American skater Heather Richardson finished second in the 1,500 and was ranked first overall heading into Sunday’s final race. Skating in her first-ever 5,000, Richardson finished seventh to fall back to fourth overall.

“I guess I just got too excited then hit the wall for sure,” said Richardson, who had a fast start in the 5,000 before fading in her final laps around the 400-metre track. “It was a bummer that I’m not third, but fourth, I’ll take it.”

Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin moved her way up to sixth after placing fifth in the 5,000.

“It’s more than what I was expecting for sure,” Blondin said. “My goal coming into the weekend was getting into the top eight so that I could skate a good 5K and I did that. I was obviously really tired, but I was pretty confident going into the race and I was able to better my ranking from seventh to sixth so I’m happy about that.”

After finishing 10th overall last year in Heerenveen, Regina’s Kali Christ set personal bests in all four events over the two-day event to finish eighth overall.

“Actually I’ve been improving by two spots since I started,” said Christ, who finished 12th in Hamar, Norway in 2013. “I’m liking the way this is going.”

It was the seventh win for Canada since Morris demoted himself to third and handed skipping duties off to Pat Simmons midway through the preliminary round.

Team Canada skip Pat Simmons, right, celebrates his semi-final win over Newfoundland and Labrador with third John Morris during curling action at the Brier in Calgary, Saturday, March 7, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh []

The Glencoe Club rink from Calgary claimed the fourth and final playoff berth with a 7-4 record in the round robin.

Canada edged Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock 8-7 in an extra end in Saturday’s earlier playoff game between the third and fourth seeds.

Jacobs topped the preliminary round with a 10-1 record. His Sault Ste. Marie team won a Canadian title two years ago and Olympic gold last year.

Newfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue reacts to a bad shot during curling action against Team Canada at the Brier in Calgary, on Saturday, March 7, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh []

Sunday’s winner represents Canada at the world men’s curling championship in Halifax later this month.

Gushue will face Saskatchewan for the bronze medal Sunday.

]]>John MorristhecanadianpressTeam Canada skip Pat Simmons, right, celebrates his semi-final win over Newfoundland and Labrador with third John Morris during curling action at the Brier in Calgary, Saturday, March 7, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshNewfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue reacts to a bad shot during curling action against Team Canada at the Brier in Calgary, on Saturday, March 7, 2015.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshMorrison, Blondin in hunt for titles at world allround championshipshttp://o.canada.com/sports/morrison-blondin-in-hunt-for-titles-at-world-allround-championships
Sun, 08 Mar 2015 01:29:13 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=596404&preview_id=596404]]>CALGARY — A pair of Canadian speedskaters sit in fourth spot after the first day of the ISU world allround championships.

Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., is fourth in the men’s competition after Saturday’s races at the Olympic Oval. In the women’s event, Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin is ranked fourth heading into the final day of competition on Sunday.

Morrison had a great start to his day, setting a world allround championships record of 34.98 seconds in the 500-metre race, just missing out on a personal best by 13/100ths of a second.

“It’s pretty inspiring to be able to race for the home crowd,” said the veteran 29-year-old skater, who later finished 11th in the 5,000.

Ivanie Blondin of Canada skates in the women’s 500 metres during the world allround speed skating championships at the Olympic Oval on March 7, 2015, in Calgary. Blondin placed fourth with a time of 38.93. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images) []

After competing in the 1,500 on Sunday, the top eight men will advance to the 10,000 later that afternoon.

“If I can be close to my personal best in the 1,500 tomorrow or get a personal best, then that’s going to be really great,” Morrison said. “I’m excited to be skating here at home, with the crowd, with the fast ice that I know I can skate on better than these guys. I think that’s to my advantage. I’m going to try to smash it tomorrow.”

Sven Kramer of the Netherlands set a world allround championships record of six minutes 7.49 seconds in the 5,000 to improve upon his 10th-place finish in the 500. Kramer sits atop the men’s standings ahead of Russia’s Denis Yuskov and Norway’s Sverre Lunde Pedersen heading into the final two races on Sunday.

Defending champion Koen Verweij of the Netherlands fell just a few strides into his 500 to end his chances of winning a second consecutive title.

“At the moment, I am very disappointed and upset as the preparations the last few weeks leading up to the tournament went pretty good,” said Verweij through a translator.

Calgary’s Ted-Jan Bloemen, who moved to Canada from the Netherlands last June, sits well back of the leaders in 16th spot after finishing 22nd in the 500 and eighth in the 5,000.

In the women’s event, Blondin surprised herself with her fourth-place showing on Saturday.

After finishing fourth in the 500, the 24-year-old skated to a sixth-place showing in the 3,000.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting this,” said Blondin, who’s hoping for another solid result on Sunday in the 1,500 to qualify among the top eight skaters who will compete in the 5,000 later that same afternoon. “To be ranked fourth right now, I’m really happy with that. I think it’s an accomplishment in itself and I’m pretty pumped about it.”

Regina’s Kali Christ heads into the final day of competition in eighth spot after finishing second behind American Heather Richardson in the 500 and 11th in the 3,000.

“I haven’t been able to sprint well this year, but I had the fastest opener of the year and I was able to throw a good one together on the day that it mattered, which is exciting for me,” said Christ, 23, who finished 10th at last year’s world allround championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands. “The 1,500 is actually my best distance, so I’m really excited for tomorrow. I want to go out there and just put everything I have on the ice and hopefully get into the 5K.”

Despite finishing ninth in the 3,000, Richardson of High Point, N.C., heads into Sunday in first spot overall ahead of Czech skater Martina Sablikova, who finished 10th in the 500 before winning the 3,000.

“It was a really good day,” Richardson said. “I didn’t know quite what to expect but a personal best in the 3K, I couldn’t ask for anything more than that. I’m excited going into the last day. I have to get some more time on the other girls in the 1,500 because I’ve never raced a 5K before.”

Defending women’s champion Ireen Wust of the Netherlands is in third spot overall after finishing third in the 500 and second in the 3,000.

]]>ISU World Allround Speed Skating Championships - Day 1thecanadianpressIvanie Blondin of Canada skates in the women's 500 metres during the world allround speed skating championships at the Olympic Oval on March 7, 2015, in Calgary. Blondin placed fourth with a time of 38.93. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)Team Canada moves into Brier semifinal with 8-7 win over Saskatchewanhttp://o.canada.com/sports/team-canada-moves-into-brier-semifinal-with-8-7-win-over-saskatchewan
Sun, 08 Mar 2015 00:11:08 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=596388&preview_id=596388]]>CALGARY — Team Canada’s John Morris advanced to the semifinal at the Canadian men’s curling championship with an 8-7 win in an extra end over Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock on Saturday.

It was Canada’s sixth win since Morris moved to third and handed skipping duties to Pat Simmons midway through the preliminary round.

They moved onto Saturday’s evening semifinal against Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador. The winner of the semifinal plays in Sunday’s championship game against Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs.

Canada had last-rock advantage in the extra end against Saskatchewan. Laycock’s attempt at tapping Canada’s shot stone off the back of the button with his final stone missed and Simmons didn’t have to throw his final rock.

Simmons, second Carter Rycroft and lead Nolan Thiessen won last year’s Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops, B.C., with Kevin Koe at skip.

Koe left to form a new team, so his former teammates recruited Morris to skip the first team to wear the Maple Leaf at the Brier. A Team Canada was incorporated into this year’s championship for the first time.

Saskatchewan and Canada both finished 7-4 in the preliminary round to earn berths in the Page playoff between the third and fourth seeds. Laycock earned the higher seeding by virtue of a win over Canada in the round-robin.

Laycock’s attempted triple takeout in the ninth end didn’t move Canadian granite far enough. Simmons was able to pick out the lone Saskatchewan stone to score two and lead 7-5 coming home without hammer.

Saskatchewan tied it 5-5 in the eighth end when Laycock’s draw to the four-foot rings stopped just in time to score two.

Laycock’s defensive tap in the seventh took away Canada’s chance to score points, as Simmons drew for his one against two Saskatchewan stones to lead 5-3.

Saskatchewan was in all kinds of trouble in the sixth until Laycock’s tough angle raise to score one with hammer.

Canada scored three in a pivotal fifth end to lead 4-2. Simmons drew in to lay three counters, but left a possible double takeout for Laycock. The Saskatchewan skip removed one stone and his shooter rolled wide. Simmons made his draw for three.

Laycock started with the hammer as the higher playoff seed. The teams traded singles in the first two ends. Laycock blanked the next end and was forced to draw the button for a point in four.

]]>Pat SimmonsthecanadianpressCalgary’s Nathan Smith wins world biathlon silver, shares podium with brothershttp://o.canada.com/news/calgarys-nathan-smith-wins-world-biathlon-silver-shares-podium-with-brothers
Sat, 07 Mar 2015 18:45:46 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=596358&preview_id=596358]]>KONTIOLAHTI, Finland — Nathan Smith raced into the Canadian biathlon history book Saturday, capturing a silver medal in the 10-kilometre sprint at the world championships.

The 29-year-old from Calgary recorded a time of 24 minutes 24.9 seconds, finishing between Norwegian brothers Johannes Thingnes Boe and Tarjei Boe.

“It is just surreal,” Smith said. “I had a strong relay earlier in the week so I had good feelings about today, but never expected to do this at all.”

Two-time Olympic champion Myriam Bedard is the only other Canadian to reach the podium at a biathlon world championships, claiming a gold and silver in 1993. No Canadian male has reached the podium.

“May of these top guys are regularly on the podium, but I realized over the last little while they are not gods,” Smith said. “They are super talented people, but I knew I can be there with them. It is awesome to be on the podium. I definitely felt it was a matter of time, but I didn’t expect to do it at world championships.”

Thingnes Boe, who won his first world title, missed his 10th and final shot after hitting the first nine at the two shooting stations, but finished in 24 minutes 12.8 seconds. Smith also hit nine of 10 targets, finishing was 12.1 seconds behind. The older Boe brother shot clean but finished 25.3 seconds back.

The other favourites struggled at the shooting range, with Martin Fourcade of France missing three targets to finish 12th.

Smith, along with Canadian teammates Brendan Green and Rosanna Crawford have all broken into the top-five this season, and Chris Lindsay, Biathlon Canada’s high performance director, believed it was only a matter of time before one of them reached the medal podium.

“These results are the natural progression in our plan,” Lindsay said. “We have depth. Our entire program believes we can be on the podium, and Nathan proved that today.”

10:40ET 07-03-15

]]>Finland-WCup-Cross-Country-Skiing.jpgthecanadianpressCanada’s Elizabeth Vathje races to skeleton world championship bronzehttp://o.canada.com/news/canadas-elizabeth-vathje-races-to-skeleton-world-championship-bronze
Sat, 07 Mar 2015 18:55:02 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=596363&preview_id=596363]]>WINTERBERG, Germany — Canada’s Elisabeth Vathje capped a dream rookie season on the international skeleton circuit with a bronze medal at the world championships Saturday.

The 20-year-old from Calgary captured Canada’s eighth medal by a female skeleton athlete in the 12 world championships since 2000.

“It is surreal,” Vathje said. “I didn’t have the best two runs today, but it was good enough to get on the podium. It really is amazing. I never expected this and it was such a roller-coaster season for all of us.”

Jane Channell of North Vancouver, B.C., was fourth.

Canada’s skeleton team learned at the beginning of the season that it would lose a large chunk of its funding.

Nevertheless, Vathje kept up Canada’s tradition of excellence in the sport, racing to a silver in her first World Cup race in Lake Placid, N.Y. She followed it up with a World Cup victory a week later in Calgary. She captured two more silver medals, in Igls, Austria, and then in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

“None of this has set in yet,” said Vathje. “The gold in Calgary or even the silver in Lake Placid. It is just surreal, but I am so, so happy. I just hope these results further help the skeleton and secure the funding we need.”

Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold of Britain clinched gold, holding off home favourite Jacqueline Loelling. Yarnold, who was fastest in Friday’s opening runs, maintained her dominance by completing the quickest times across all four for a combined time of three minutes 49.95 seconds.

Yarnold beat Loelling, the German two-time junior world champion, by 0.67 seconds and Vathje by 0.79.

Martins Dukurs won the men’s title on Friday. It was the Latvian’s third skeleton world championship title after wins in 2011 and 2012.

10:53ET 07-03-15

]]>Germany-Skeleton-Worlds.jpgthecanadianpressNorthern Ontario’s Jacobs into Brier final with win over Newfoundland’s Gushuehttp://o.canada.com/sports/northern-ontarios-jacobs-into-brier-final-with-win-over-newfoundlands-gushue
Sat, 07 Mar 2015 05:22:23 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=596344&preview_id=596344]]>CALGARY — Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs is a win away from his second Canadian men’s curling championship in three years.

His Sault Ste. Marie foursome downed Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador 7-5 in Friday’s Page playoff between the top two seeds.

Jacobs, third Ryan Fry and the front end of E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden earned an express ticket to Sunday’s championship game.

Gushue drops to Saturday’s semifinal to face the winner of the playoff between Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock and Team Canada’s John Morris. The semifinal winner faces Jacobs on Sunday.

Jacobs and his current teammates won their first Canadian title two years ago in Edmonton.

They didn’t participate in last year’s Tim Hortons Brier because they represented Canada at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and won gold there.

]]>Brad JacobsthecanadianpressSaskatchewan’s Steve Laycock joins playoff teams at Brier with victory over B.C.http://o.canada.com/sports/saskatchewans-steve-laycock-joins-playoff-teams-at-brier-with-victory-over-b-c
Fri, 06 Mar 2015 18:59:21 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=596224&preview_id=596224]]>CALGARY — A curling-mad province that hasn’t won a Canadian men’s championship in 35 years has produced a sort of fatalism there, according to this year’s skip from Saskatchewan.

Steve Laycock says he doesn’t feel the weight of expectation heading into Saturday’s playoff game against a team with a former Saskatchewan skip.

“It’s almost gotten to the point where it’s been so long since we’ve won a Brier, there are no expectations anymore,” Laycock said Friday. “When it’s been that long, people are probably betting against it more than for it.

“It would be remarkable if we could pull that off. Maybe we could start a string of wins for Saskatchewan.”

The last Saskatchewan team to win a Brier was Rick Folk in 1980.

Laycock doubled B.C.’s Jim Cotter 4-2 to claim the one playoff berth still empty in the final draw of the preliminary round Friday morning.

Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs (10-1) and Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador (9-2) held the top two seeds and were to square off later Friday night for a berth in Sunday’s championship game.

Laycock and Team Canada, skipped by Pat Simmons, both finished 7-4. Saskatchewan gained the higher ranking by virtue of a round-robin win over Canada.

The winner of Saturday’s playoff match will face the loser of the Jacobs-Gushue game in semifinal action later Saturday night.

Team Canada went 4-1 after John Morris demoted himself to third on the fourth day of the tournament. He handed skip duties to Simmons, who hadn’t played that position since 2010.

But Simmons skipped Saskatchewan in four consecutive Briers from 2005 to 2008 before he began curling out of Alberta. Laycock played lead for Simmons in the 2007 and ’08 Canadian championships.

“Pat’s a great skip,” Laycock said. “I know that from first-hand experience from a lot of years ago.”

The 32-year-old compensation specialist at the University of Saskatchewan skipped his province at two previous Briers, but made the final four for the first time here.

Laycock, third Kirk Muyres, second Colton Flasch and lead Dallas Muyres represent the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon. They came agonizingly close to playoffs last year in Kamloops, B.C.

Tied coming home with the hammer in their final game, they gave up a steal of three to New Brunswick in a 9-7 loss. The foursome finished just outside the playoffs at 6-5.

“All four of us missed numerous shots,” Kirk Muyres recalled. “The big thing is we recognized it and learned how to deal with that and made sure it didn’t happen again.

“We said to ourselves ‘If we get a chance to have this game again, we’re going to do better.’ We’ve done a ton of work in the last 12 months.”

Laycock’s runback with his final stone ran B.C.’s Cotter out of rocks. Saskatchewan’s win avoided an abundance of tiebreaker games, as a loss would have put four teams tied for fourth at 6-5.

“We obviously didn’t want to drop into tiebreakers with a couple of pretty good teams,” the skip said. “Too avoid that and have a guaranteed spot in the playoffs feels great.”

Kirk Muyres and Flasch are just 24 and last year’s Tim Hortons Brier was their first. They felt more prepared for the preliminary round’s highs and lows this time.

Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers was 4-7 and New Brunswick’s Jeremy Mallais 2-9. Jamie Koe of Northwest Territories went winless. Northwest Territories is relegated to the pre-tournament qualifier in 2016 against Nova Scotia and Yukon.

]]>CUR-Brier-20150303.jpgthecanadianpressNorthern Ontario, Newfoundland to clash in Brier playoff between top two seedshttp://o.canada.com/sports/newfoundlands-brad-gushue-secures-spot-in-brier-playoffs-with-win-over-northern-ontario
Thu, 05 Mar 2015 19:09:54 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=596008&preview_id=596008]]>CALGARY — The Page playoff between the top two seeds at the Canadian men’s curling championship showcases the best two teams of the preliminary round.

Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs and Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador will square off Friday evening at the Tim Hortons Brier with the winner advancing directly to Sunday’s championship game.

The loser can still get to the final, but has to win Saturday’s semifinal against the victor of the playoff between the third and fourth seeds earlier that day.

The latter two playoff berths were still up for grabs heading into Thursday night’s draw at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Because it’s a non-elimination game, that one-two game has the potential to be even better than the final, says Gushue. There’s less chance of missing routine shots because of nervousness and adrenaline.

“I actually think the calibre of game will probably be better because you do have a second life and the nerves probably aren’t going to be as extreme knowing that ‘if I miss this, we’re eliminated,”‘ the Newfoundland skip said.

“From watching it in the past, the one-two games are usually well-curled games, much better than the final and the semifinal because those are sudden death.”

Gushue’s 6-5 win over Jacobs in Thursday morning’s draw set up Friday’s duel. It was Northern Ontario’s first loss of the tournament and they dropped to 9-1, but still ahead of Newfoundland at 8-2.

Both teams were guaranteed a top-two finish when the preliminary round concludes Friday morning. Both had one more game to play Thursday night.

Team Canada at 7-3 and Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock at 6-3 had the inside track on the other two playoff berths, while Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard remained in tiebreaker territory at 6-4.

With five losses apiece, Alberta’s Kevin Koe, B.C.’s Jim Cotter and Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers weren’t mathematically eliminated from a tiebreaker, but needed Laycock to lose his last two games of the round-robin.

Northern Ontario had their top-two position locked up by Wednesday. Jacobs had trailed in just one of 82 ends prior to facing Gushue, but the reigning Olympic champions uncharacteristically gave up a steal of one in both the second and third ends.

After trading singles, Jacobs scored three in the seventh to tie it up. Gushue had the hammer coming home with the score tied and got his one.

“To try to go through the Brier undefeated is pretty difficult and it’s not anything we anticipated doing,” Jacobs said. “I’m happy with how we battled back in the second half because we played like complete garbage in the first half, especially me.”

“We’re just going to try and play the one-two game smart. We know what game really matters at this point.”

It will be the second one-two playoff game at the Brier for Jacobs. He lost to Glenn Howard in 2010 and was then beaten in the semifinal by Alberta’s Koe.

Jacobs and his current team of Ryan Fry, E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden team claimed the fourth and final playoff berth two years ago in Edmonton. Jacobs played his way through to the final, beating Gushue in the three-four playoff game in an extra end.

Northern Ontario ended a 28-year drought and the Jacobs rink claimed their first Canadian title with an 11-4 victory over Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton.

Gushue is a career 1-1 in the playoff between the top two seeds. He defeated Glenn Howard in 2007 to get to the final, but lost the championship game to Stoughton. In 2011, he lost the one-two game to Stoughton and then lost in the semifinal to Howard.

“For me, it’s just an avenue to get into the final,” Gushue said. “You don’t want to rely on that semifinal game.

“If you can get it done in the one-two game it lets you breathe a little easier, it’s one less game on the body, one less game of pressure on the nerves. There’s a whole lot of benefits to winning that one-two game.”

The 34-year-old won Olympic gold in 2006 with current third Mark Nichols. Gushue has now skipped his team to the Brier playoffs for an eighth time in 12 appearances, but is still looking for his first Canadian title.

At 0-10, Northwest Territories is relegated to the pre-tournament qualifier in 2016. The team from Northwest Territories must compete with Nova Scotia and Yukon to get into the main 12-team draw.

]]>CUR-Brier-20150303.jpgthecanadianpressBrier’s storied Purple Heart gets a silver edition for defending championshttp://o.canada.com/sports/briers-storied-purple-heart-gets-a-silver-edition-for-defending-champions
http://o.canada.com/sports/briers-storied-purple-heart-gets-a-silver-edition-for-defending-champions#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 16:34:02 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=595931&preview_id=595931]]>CALGARY — The Brier’s storied purple heart — with its origins in something people once smoked — has a new look at this year’s Canadian men’s curling championship in Calgary.

A purple, heart-shaped crest has adorned the jacket of every provincial and territorial men’s curling champion since the first Brier in 1927. Earning a Purple Heart is like gaining entry into a secret society for male curlers.

“I remember winning my first one and not wanting to let it go,” said Northern Ontario skip Brad Jacobs. “A lot of the guys from Northern Ontario said ‘sleep with it under your pillow’ and I did that.”

MacDonald Tobacco Company sponsored the Brier for its first 49 years. Purple Heart was the brand name of a tobacco the company sold.

A silver heart crest was created for the defending champions and worn for the first time this year by John Morris (above), Pat Simmons, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

“They were using this as brand identification by creating the image of the purple heart as the crest for winning a province or territory,” explained Danny Lamoureux, Curling Canada’s director of championship services.

The 2015 Tim Hortons Brier — the 85th national men’s championship — was the first in which the defending champion from the previous year gained an automatic entry as Team Canada. The team skipped by John Morris would wear the Maple Leaf at the Brier for the first time.

The question was how to incorporate the purple heart, an enduring symbol of the event’s history, onto their jackets?

“We just didn’t want to give the team a regular purple heart because quite frankly they didn’t compete in their provincial or territorial championship,” Lamoureux said.

A silver heart crest was created for the defending champions and worn for the first time this year by John Morris, Pat Simmons, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen.

“It obviously means you’ve had success the year prior. I think it will be something that’s more coveted as years go by.”

“I knew we’d have something there just because it would be odd if we didn’t have anything,” Simmons said. “Obviously it’s the first time. It’s probably going to be something that’s more special later on.

“It obviously means you’ve had success the year prior. I think it will be something that’s more coveted as years go by.”

It’s a similar concept to the Canadian women’s curling championship, which has had a Team Canada since 1985. Provincial and territorial winners at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts wear red heart-shaped crests while the defending champions’ crests are blue.

“There’s some that may say it’s sacrilege to tinker with the purple heart, but we didn’t,” Lamoureux said.

“We didn’t want to lose the concept of the purple heart, so if you look at it closely, the outside of it is still purple, the inside design matches what the rest of the guys are wearing, but instead of purple in the centre we made it silver to give it some oomph.”

So in addition to a national title and the chance to represent Canada at the world championship next month in Halifax, the teams in Calgary are playing to return to next year’s Brier in Ottawa wearing both the Maple Leaf and a silver heart.

“I don’t think it should be purple because to me a purple heart signifies a provincial win,” he said. “They deserve to be here, but they didn’t win a provincial to get here.”

Representing his province for the 12th time, Gushue owns a dozen purple hearts.

“It’s a little bit odd for people outside of curling to think a felted crest is important,” Gushue said.

“I know the first few times I won a provincial championship, that’s the most exciting part — actually getting presented with a purple heart because you see guys growing up who had them. It’s a big deal.”

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/briers-storied-purple-heart-gets-a-silver-edition-for-defending-champions/feed1CUR-Brier-Silver-Heart-20150305.jpgthecanadianpressTeam Canada skip John Morris gestures to his teammates during curling action at the Brier in Calgary, Monday, March 2, 2015.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshNewfoundland and Labrador skip Brad Gushue celebrates defeating Team Canada during curling action at the Brier in Calgary, Sunday, March 1, 2015.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshNorthern Ontario races to clinch early playoff berth at Brierhttp://o.canada.com/sports/northern-ontarios-brad-jacobs-downs-new-brunswick-7-4-to-remain-undefeated-at-brier
Wed, 04 Mar 2015 18:53:25 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=595734&preview_id=595734]]>CALGARY — Brad Jacobs was excited about the arrival of his wife Shawna and infant daughter Camille in Calgary on Wednesday. Clinching a berth very early in the premier playoff game at the Tim Hortons Brier? That too, when he found out.

If Jacobs and teammates were unaware of the reward that came with a 4-3 win over Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock in the afternoon draw, it’s because they haven’t thought about anything else on the ice except execution and winning.

At 9-0, the Jacobs rink from Sault Ste. Marie looks a lot like that coldly intense team that won Olympic gold in Sochi, Russia, just over a year ago.

Of the 82 ends they’ve played at this year’s Canadian men’s curling championship, they’ve trailed in just one– back in their second game against Alberta.

“Physically, emotionally, I don’t think we could feel any better as a team,” Jacobs said.

With five draws remaining, the reigning Olympic champions not only secured a playoff berth early, but assured themselves a spot in the playoff between the top two seeds.

Jacobs, Ryan Fry and the front end of E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden won their first Canadian championship two years ago and went onto to the world title as well.

The top four teams at the conclusion of the preliminary round Friday morning make the Page playoffs. The winner of Friday night’s game between the top two seeds advances directly to Sunday’s final. The loser drops to Saturday’s semifinal to face the winner of the playoff between the third and fourth seeds earlier that day.

The last time a team ran the table en route to a championship was in Calgary in 2009, when Alberta’s Kevin Martin won the Canadian title. Ontario’s Glenn Howard went 11-0 in the preliminary round the following year, but lost in the final.

Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador got to 7-2 with a pistol of a shot with his final stone against Alberta’s Kevin Koe. An intricate raise double to score the winner in an 8-7 victory kept Gushue very much in playoff contention and had the skip pumping his fist.

“I guess it would be a double-raise, double-around-the-horn something or other,” was Gushue’s description of that shot. “I’m not going to lie. I think I’m a really good curler, but I’m not going to make that too many times.

“I think in that situation, with a shot to win a game at the Brier and really a very meaningful game at the end of the week when you’re talking playoff situations, one in a hundred.”

Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard and Team Canada’s John Morris were tied at 6-3 and Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock is 5-3 heading into Thursday.

Alberta’s Koe and Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers are both at 4-4. Koe beat his brother Jamie, who skips Northwest Territories, 7-4 in the Wednesday evening draw.

Saskatchewan’s Laycock edged Prince Edward Island’s Adam Casey 7-6 in an extra end after losing two in a row. B.C.’s Jim Cotter dropped to 3-5 after losing 8-3 to Manitoba.

Canada has won four in a row in the two days since Morris demoted himself to third and promoted Pat Simmons to skip.

“Obviously, we’re feeling more comfortable and playing a little bit better right from stem to stern which is good,” Simmons said.

Quebec has also won four in a row. Their provincial championship was mid-January. Menard and his teammates live in different communities and hadn’t played any games together since then upon their arrival in Calgary.

“The last game before coming here was the final of our provincial championship, so now it’s slowly starting to come to get back together to the kind of game we’ve been playing pretty much all of the season,” Menard said.

Laycock made a spectacular quadruple takeout to lay three in the seventh end against Jacobs. The skip countered with a takeout that cleared the house and forced Saskatchewan to blank the end. It’s been that kind of tournament so far for Northern Ontario.

“We’ve stayed really even-keeled this entire event,” Harnden said. “I think the mental side of our game is matching the technical side.

“That’s where we want to keep the momentum going, keep even-keeled, eliminate the distractions and just focus on the ice and what we have to do on the ice.”

]]>Brad JacobsthecanadianpressJohn Morris pulls himself from Brier skipping duties, aiming to rally Team Canadahttp://o.canada.com/sports/john-morris-pulls-himself-from-brier-skipping-duties-aiming-to-rally-team-canada
Wed, 04 Mar 2015 02:58:25 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=595511&preview_id=595511]]>CALGARY — John Morris has been around long enough to know to trust his gut instinct.

And, after an uneasy feeling since the start of the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier, the Team Canada skip made the executive decision to pull himself from his duties and promoted third Pat Simmons for Tuesday’s afternoon draw against Jamie Koe’s rink out of Northwest Territories.

A rare sight, especially for an experienced group of curlers, including Morris.

Team Canada’s John Morris, left and Pat Simmons during Brier action Tuesday. Leah Hennel/Calgary Herald

“You know what?” said the 36-year-old after Tuesday’s 6-3 win over Koe. “I would play lead on a team if we knew we were going to be champions. You have to do that in curling sometimes. I’ve seen Pat throw, we used to play against him and he made some amazing shots against us.

“I feel we needed a bit of a spark out there and it felt great. I think this is our best chance right now. We’re too competitive to not make playoffs here.”

The catalyst behind the move was Monday’s 8-4 loss to Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock, which put them in a dangerous position at 2-3 early in this Brier. Morris made two uncharacteristic blunders early on in the game and they didn’t sit well.

So, he called a team meeting. The decision initially caught Simmons off guard, especially less than 24 hours before the team’s sixth and seventh games of the national championship tournament.

But the entire team — including second Carter Rycroft and lead Nolan Thiessen — agreed change was necessary.

And the sooner, the better.

“But it’s curling and you have to do what you have to do. I’ll sweep for seven games in a row if I have to in order to win this thing.”

“Obviously, it wasn’t in the master plan, that’s for sure,” said Simmons, 40, after Tuesday’s afternoon draw. “But, you know, sometimes you can’t go by the book all the time. We felt we just need a spark or something. We were close in a lot of games, just kind of hanging in there. We had a bad one (Monday). We’re all trying to win out here so we’ll see what happens.”

A change like this is a rarity at the national championship stage, especially halfway into the round robin competition.

Especially for a guy who hasn’t skipped in five years. Or for a guy who hasn’t swept a rock in two.

“A little sore,” Morris said, chuckling. “But it’s curling and you have to do what you have to do. I’ll sweep for seven games in a row if I have to in order to win this thing.”

The last time Simmons, who is a chiropractor when he’s not curling, skipped a game was the 2010 Players’ championship when he was with Laycock’s foursome. Prior to that, he had been in the position since 2002.

In other words, it isn’t Simmons’ first rodeo.

“It’s just a matter of finding those skip legs and maybe making a few draws under pressure,” he said. “But the boys played really well (Tuesday).”

Kevin Koe dumped three members of his 2014 Brier-winning outfit to form his current team of Marc Kennedy, Brent Laing, and Ben Herbert. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Truth be told, Morris said he felt like the group was missing something — evident from early in the season — and change was necessary.

“I thought our options were: keep doing what we’re doing and go .500 at the Brier and sort of fade away into the sunset,” he said. “Or make a change and try to win this thing.”

So, they kept their shots simple. Played an uncomplicated game. And, after a slow start, they picked up a pair of scores in the sixth end and improved to 3-3 following the afternoon draw. That set up Tuesday night’s marquee matchup with Kevin Koe’s Alberta rink.

“Whether or not I get my game under my belt is another story,” Simmons said. “The fact of the matter is: (Alberta’s) a great team. We’ll have to play our best to have a chance in that game.”

Tuesday’s late draw was the biggest clash of the day — and, perhaps, the Brier.

Last spring, Koe had dumped three members of his 2014 Brier-winning outfit to form his current team of Marc Kennedy, Brent Laing, and Ben Herbert. Those three members Koe parted ways with — Simmons, Rycroft, and Thiessen — now play with Morris.

Kennedy and Herbert, of course, were teammates of Morris for skip Kevin Martin and captured a 2010 Olympic gold medal together.

To add to the dramatics, both teams train out of the Glencoe Club in Calgary.

Remaining undefeated at 6-0 was the Brad Jacobs rink from Northern Ontario following an 11-1 victory over P.E.I.’s Adam Casey. Jacobs was to play Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers in the late draw.

Second was the Laycock rink at 4-1 following a 7-4 victory over New Brunswick’s Jeremy Mallais in the morning draw. In that game, Laycock needed a perfect draw on his final rock under cover with N.B. poised to score six. Instead, the shot allowed Laycock to steal one. Laycock was scheduled to play Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard in the late draw.

Brad Gushue’s rink from Newfoundland and Labrador improved to 4-2 with a 10-2 win over Mallais. Gushue was playing Ontario’s Mark Kean in the late draw. Sitting at 3-2 were Alberta’s Koe and Manitoba’s Carruthers followed by Jim Cotter of B.C., Menard and Team Canada at 3-3. Cotter lost 8-6 to Menard in the afternoon draw. Cotter beat Kean 8-3 in the morning. Ontario was 2-3 while P.E.I. was 2-4. N.B. was at 1-5 with the N.W.T. winless at 0-6.

]]>CUR-Brier-20150303.jpgpostmedianews1CALGARY.; March 03, 2015 -- Team Canada John Morris, left and Pat Simmons during the Tim Hortons Brier at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on March 3, 2015. Photo by Leah Hennel, Calgary Herald (For Sports story by ?)Alberta skip Kevin Koe delivers a rock as they play British Columbia in playoff action at the Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops, B.C. on Friday, March 7, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan ORG XMIT: XAV113